ImportPrivKey Safe?

[junior_clk]

If I use importprivkey, the wif starting a 5
Rescan is triggered, and can take up a long time.
I have a full node with txindex

Will this expose me for hackers?
I can't use electrum for offline signing because the corresponding address starting with a 1
has only been used for mining, so it has no funds to use as a fee
It is a legacy address from 2011, and I want to spend them to a taproot address from my Trezor

Or does sparrow give me a better option, I see the sweep option, but then I enter my private key in a online computer

[Charles-Tim]

You can import it on Electrum, it will work if the private key starts from 5.

[junior_clk]

but I can't sweep, because when I insert my new address and click on max
it says error not enough funds, the address has no funds because it's not on the coinbase/blockchain
they where only mined
Or how can I use the import option by entering the privkey offline

[Charles-Tim]

Or how can I use the import option by entering the privkey offline

This is it: https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html

If you have enough money their, it will work. Do not forget you have imported it on an online wallet already which make it online and not cold anymore.

[hosemary]

has only been used for mining, so it has no funds to use as a fee
It is a legacy address from 2011, and I want to spend them to a taproot address from my Trezor

If the address has no fund, then what's the point of importing its private key into bitcoin core or electrum?

it says error not enough funds, the address has no funds because it's not on the coinbase/blockchain
they where only mined

What do you mean by "they where only mined". Are you saying the address was used for receiving the block reward?
If so, why do you say it has no fund? If it has no fund, why do you want to import its private key? Your question is so confusing.

Can you share the address with us?

[junior_clk]

how have I imported it on an online wallet already?
I tried https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixnTZDZ0-yk&t=442s
Using tails offline I inserted the privkey and the watchonly wallet on the online computer didn't see the funds

from the mastering bitcoin book
Unlike regular transactions, the generation transaction does not consume (spend) UT‐
XO as inputs. Instead, it has only one input, called the coinbase, which creates bitcoin
from nothing. The generation transaction has one output, payable to the miner’s own
bitcoin address

[Charles-Tim]

Unlike regular transactions, the generation transaction does not consume (spend) UT‐
XO as inputs. Instead, it has only one input, called the coinbase, which creates bitcoin
from nothing. The generation transaction has one output, payable to the miner’s own
bitcoin address

Do not confuse yourself. As long as you have bitcoin and you can access it with the private key, I mean if it is the right private key, you will be able to spend the coins. I guess you do not have coins on the wallet you are posting about.

[junior_clk]

The main question is, if I import the privkey in bitcoincore and it rescans
Does that make me a target for hackers?
Do they see my rescan and/or my privkey?

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Instead, it has only one input, called the coinbase, which creates bitcoin from nothing.

It is not creating Bitcoin from nothing.
The coinbase input is the reward created when a block is found and technically it is deducted from the 21million BTC that are able to be generated. If you have never found a block or received a reward from a pool that found a block then your address will have no inputs which again raises the question of why are you trying to import it? Is it a vanity address?

If you really want to import that address, just send a tiny amount of BTC to it from another address so it will have the funds needed for any fee, import it, and then send the remaining coin back to where it came from.

[nc50lc]

it says error not enough funds, the address has no funds because it's not on the coinbase/blockchain

Not in the blockchain (that every node has) = not a valid UTXO.

they where only mined

If Bitcoin Core shows you mined Bitcoins in the transaction list,
But the block where it's the reward of isn't in any other nodes, that isn't a valid transaction output that you can spend.

However, given your history: /index.php?action=profile;u=2035320;sa=showPosts
I'd guess that it's something related to your other threads misguided by how you obtained it.

[Cricktor]

If I use importprivkey, the wif starting a 5
Rescan is triggered, and can take up a long time.
I have a full node with txindex

Will this expose me for hackers?

If the device is clean, i.e. free of malware, where you import the private key, doing above shouldn't expose you to hackers, assuming your device is sufficiently secured from being easily accessible from the internet (your router blocks traffic from outside that hasn't been initiated earlier from your local network; you have a reasonable firewall on your machine like Windows usually has; you don't do silly things with your device like installing every crap of software that you find; you don't surf shady websites; ...).

Of course, you should know that this is a software-only hot wallet.

I can't use electrum for offline signing because the corresponding address starting with a 1

Your assumption is incorrect, Electrum can perfectly fine use legacy p2pkh:5... private keys and public addresses for offline signing. When you import a private key you have to tell Electrum what public address type it should derive from it. No issue to still use legacy addresses when you import private keys or restore wallets from old legacy Electrum seeds or BIP39 seeds with a legacy derivation path.

Ihas only been used for mining, so it has no funds to use as a fee
It is a legacy address from 2011, and I want to spend them to a taproot address from my Trezor

This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If the legacy doesn't have any UTXOs, regardless of their origin, then there's nothing to spend "from that legady address" and the private key doesn't "control" any funds.

Based on whtat nc50lc hints to, it seems you were scammed.

it says error not enough funds, the address has no funds because it's not on the coinbase/blockchain
they where only mined

If your coins aren't in the consensus UTXO set, they never existed in the blockchain. They may have been privatly mined, but those blocks were never published AND accepted by other node's consensus.

[LoyceV]

Will this expose me for hackers?

Maybe, maybe not. The thing is: you can't be absolutely sure your system is secure. The moment you enter your private key into a hot wallet, there's always a chance to lose your funds. Considering the amount you're talking about when mining in 2011: DO NOT RISK IT!

I can't use electrum for offline signing because the corresponding address starting with a 1
has only been used for mining, so it has no funds to use as a fee

It sounds like your funds were "sent to pubkey" instead of to your address. Most block explorers will show the funds when you lookup the address, but Electrum can't handle "send to pubkey" inputs.

I wrote instructions for my Fork claiming guide on how to sign offline in this case. The same applies to Bitcoin, just make sure you understand what you're doing before doing it. (note: don't even think about Forkcoins before you've securely moved your Bitcoin to a new address, people have lost their Bitcoins by installing compromised Fork wallets)

[ABCbits]

If I use importprivkey, the wif starting a 5
Rescan is triggered, and can take up a long time.
I have a full node with txindex

txindex wouldn't improve rescan performance. If you know when the adderss first time received Bitcoin, you can specify it (as block height) to reduce blocks to be scanned.

Will this expose me for hackers?

It depends on whether your device is secure or not. Although it seems you plan to use offline device to import your private key and create unsigned TX, so make sure you download Bitcoin Core (or other wallet software you plan to use) and verify it (e.g. check installer hash and it's PGP signature).

I can't use electrum for offline signing because the corresponding address starting with a 1

FYI, you can use format p2pkh:YOUR_PRIVATEKEY to import private key while mentioning the address format.

has only been used for mining, so it has no funds to use as a fee
It is a legacy address from 2011, and I want to spend them to a taproot address from my Trezor

If that address currently have any amount of Bitcoin, it can be used to pay TX fee. Did you mistyped something which changed what you want to say?

[junior_clk]

thnx for the help everybody
I'ts likely a P2PK address
the best thing I can do is learn more about the core wallet
from 24+ it can use send all, create a watch only wallet make a transaction without broadcasting and so on

still learning
 

[nc50lc]

I'ts likely a P2PK address

It may be but the private key that you've swept to Electrum isn't the pair of that pubKey.

This is the reason:

but I can't sweep, because when I insert my new address and click on max
it says error not enough funds, -snip-

Although Electrum can't scan for P2PK outputs of an imported private key or standard wallet.
Its sweep function will still search for unspent P2PK outputs when searching for outputs to spend.
Reference: github.com/spesmilo/electrum/pull/3125

But the way you described it, it doesn't seem you've used "Sweep" correctly,
If you want to retry, use your newly created or existing Electrum wallet (that you can spend from), then go to "Wallet->Private Keys->Sweep".
If failed, you can manually select a server in each attempt since some server doesn't work with P2PK Sweep.
If you've used mostly all of the public servers, the private key is really unrelated.

[junior_clk]

@nc50lc so not to my own server, that's the problem?
it has the romanz/electrs instead of the mempool/electrs

[Cricktor]

I'ts likely a P2PK address

May I ask, why you don't know it exactly and have to be a bit fuzzy?

As most Electrum servers won't return a transaction history for coins sent to public keys (P2PK transactions, like a lot of the very early coinbase transactions), I would stick to Bitcoin Core which has no issues with such transactions.

For a watch-only wallet you can import one or more combo(public key) descriptor(s) where you derive the public key(s) from each of the private key(s) you have in a safe disposable offline environment (live linux started from read-only media or USB-stick which only runs in RAM with no network connection and doesn't save any persistent data without your consent).

combo() descriptors cover most common address types which can be derived from a private or public key, in particular coins are recognized which have been sent via P2PK, P2PKH and the Segwit variants when the public key is compressed. As far as I remember Taproot isn't covered, but that irrelevant for OP. Of course for a spending wallet, it's possible to use the combo() descriptors with private keys.

Once you have imported such combo() descriptors you can tell Bitcoin Core to rescan from beginning of blockchain.

rescanblockchain ( start_height stop_height )

Rescan the local blockchain for wallet related transactions.
Note: Use "getwalletinfo" to query the scanning progress.
The rescan is significantly faster when used on a descriptor wallet
and block filters are available (using startup option "-blockfilterindex=1").

Arguments:
1. start_height    (numeric, optional, default=0) block height where the rescan should start
2. stop_height     (numeric, optional) the last block height that should be scanned. If none is provided it will rescan up to the tip at return time of this call.
...

You can ask more specific questions if you can't wrap you head around how to properly setup a descriptor wallet for your specific needs. If you're have trouble with English language, Google translator usually does a quite decent job. You can post with your current English skills and maybe add a Google translator output, too.


More details on descriptors are here: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/descriptors.md

[junior_clk]

@Cricktor because it was 15 years ago?
was moving out of my parents house but kept the computer there mining.
There wasn't much value in it but is was better then Seti@tHome looking for aliens
So didn't think much of it got a life and found some data a few months back
And sorry my English isn't the best, I'm Dutch so I'm stubborn to try to use it.

Google translate is great but the technical translation isn't the best sometimes
But I have a good place to start with the descriptors and going on with core

[hosemary]

You know the address associated with your private key? Right?
If so, have you checked your balance through any block explorer to make sure you have bitcoin? Many of block explorers display the balance for the legacy address derived from your private key and public key even if you have received a P2PK transaction.

[junior_clk]

@Hosemary yeah I know the address, there where no transactions from it to a other address
The computer was on for weeks 24/7 mining with cpu so it's worth the trouble to find out