Have I lost my bitcoin? private key?

[tyketkd]

Hi, I downloaded bitcoin core and saw a 'receiving address' so hopped over to an exchange and purchased some bitcoin using the address bitcoin core gave me. The thing is bitcoin core is out of sync by over a year. What I don't understand is private key? I can see on another site my address has the transferred bitcoin. What is the private key reference please?

Thanks...

[shorena]

Hi, I downloaded bitcoin core and saw a 'receiving address' so hopped over to an exchange and purchased some bitcoin using the address bitcoin core gave me. The thing is bitcoin core is out of sync by over a year.

If you use 0.10.0 this should be over soon. Bitcoin core keeps a full copy of the blockchain, that is of all bitcoin transaction that every happened. It takes a few days to download and verify that.

What I don't understand is private key? I can see on another site my address has the transferred bitcoin. What is the private key reference please?

Thanks...

A private key is what allows you to spend your bitcoins and bitcoin core handles those for you. They are not shown by default and are only ever unlocked when you want to send bitcoin. Bitcoin core will ask you for your wallet password, unlock the private keys, sign the transaction and lock the wallet again. It is very important to keep those safe.

[EcuaMobi]

Hi, I downloaded bitcoin core and saw a 'receiving address' so hopped over to an exchange and purchased some bitcoin using the address bitcoin core gave me. The thing is bitcoin core is out of sync by over a year. What I don't understand is private key? I can see on another site my address has the transferred bitcoin. What is the private key reference please?

Thanks...

No. You did not lose your bitcoins. You just need to wait until it syncs in order to spend it (recommended).
If you can't wait, you can export the private key of that address and import it into another wallet like blockchain.info:
http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/4203/how-can-i-export-the-private-key-for-an-address-from-the-satoshi-client

[tyketkd]

Thankyou for your replies! Now I understand better, the wallet password is what I was confused about!!! REALLY appreciate your time to help me guys/gals!

[lucasjkr]

Instead of block chain.info, may I suggest electrum? It's a lightweight client (no download of the block chain needed) that runs on your desktop

[rapsaodan84]

Instead of block chain.info, may I suggest electrum? It's a lightweight client (no download of the block chain needed) that runs on your desktop

How can I import a privkey there? I only get the option to sweep but import is disabled

[EcuaMobi]

Instead of block chain.info, may I suggest electrum? It's a lightweight client (no download of the block chain needed) that runs on your desktop

How can I import a privkey there? I only get the option to sweep but import is disabled

Are you using Electrum 2.0?
This HD version doesn't support having loose addresses.

Electrum 2.x HD wallets may not contain loose keys. You can still create a separate wallet which contains loose keys, but it will not be an HD wallet and you're on your own when it comes to maintaining backups (there's no seed).

To create a loose-keys wallet, go to the restore wallet option, and enter one or more private keys (base58check strings starting with L or K). You can import additional keys into this wallet later if you like (the Import Keys menu item won't be disabled).

I suspect this was done to avoid any confusion where a user might believe that imported keys in an HD wallet might somehow be protected by the seed, when of course it's not.

[cakir]

First of all, just chill out, when the bitcoin core got fully synced with network you'll see your coins.
Secondly don't share your priv key with anyone (I don't know but you may have had a request from a scammer to see what's going on about your funds via pm; and then scammer will steal your bitcoins).

Here's a great link about private keys; http://bitzuma.com/posts/six-things-bitcoin-users-should-know-about-private-keys/

[duid88]

mean loss of private key?

[bitbaby]

Instead of block chain.info, may I suggest electrum? It's a lightweight client (no download of the block chain needed) that runs on your desktop

How can I import a privkey there? I only get the option to sweep but import is disabled

Sweep will send your coins from the previous address to the new address generated by electrum. But please do read on about keys and electrum before doing anything. Or just wait and let the Bitcoin Core sync and you'll be good to go.

Also make sure to securely back-up your keys and wallet.

[tyketkd]

Quick update.

Firstly I installed bitcoin core, I then purchased some bitcoin which was transferred to the bitcoin core receiving address.

I wanted to import my wallet from bitcoin core to blockchain info. Now there are two options (Add watch only bitcoin address) and (Import private key). I successfully added the bitcoin core address  and now blockchain sees my correct balance.

Using blockchain (which shows the correct balance) I then tried to quick send to another wallet and the message is This Transaction Requires the Private Key? for Address 1L75zuc2U3tgNgjDxxxxxxxxxxxx (Bitcoin core wallet address that received the bitcoin I originally purchased)

How do I find this private key that is required to complete a transfer?

Thanks!

[EcuaMobi]

Quick update.

Firstly I installed bitcoin core, I then purchased some bitcoin which was transferred to the bitcoin core receiving address.

I wanted to import my wallet from bitcoin core to blockchain info. Now there are two options (Add watch only bitcoin address) and (Import private key). I successfully added the bitcoin core address  and now blockchain sees my correct balance.

Using blockchain (which shows the correct balance) I then tried to quick send to another wallet and the message is This Transaction Requires the Private Key? for Address 1L75zuc2U3tgNgjDxxxxxxxxxxxx (Bitcoin core wallet address that received the bitcoin I originally purchased)

How do I find this private key that is required to complete a transfer?

Thanks!

You need to import the private key into blockchain, if you just added as a watch only address then that's what you get: you can only watch it but not spend from it.

Here's how you can get the private key from bitcoin-qt:
http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/4203/how-can-i-export-the-private-key-for-an-address-from-the-satoshi-client

For security I recommend you to sweep the private key on blockchain instead of importing it.

[shorena]

Quick update.

Firstly I installed bitcoin core, I then purchased some bitcoin which was transferred to the bitcoin core receiving address.

I wanted to import my wallet from bitcoin core to blockchain info. Now there are two options (Add watch only bitcoin address) and (Import private key). I successfully added the bitcoin core address  and now blockchain sees my correct balance.

Using blockchain (which shows the correct balance) I then tried to quick send to another wallet and the message is This Transaction Requires the Private Key? for Address 1L75zuc2U3tgNgjDxxxxxxxxxxxx (Bitcoin core wallet address that received the bitcoin I originally purchased)

How do I find this private key that is required to complete a transfer?

Thanks!

Open the console from help -> Debug Window -> console.

Enter:

Code:

walletpassphrase My_Passw0rd 60

to unlock the wallet.dat file for 60 seconds and enter

Code:

dumpprivkey 1L75zuc2U3tgNgjDxxxxxxxxxxxx

to get the private key for 1L75zuc2U3tgNgjDxxxxxxxxxxxx. You can important that key into blockchain.info via the Import/Exort panel.

[tyketkd]

Thanks for the useful link, much appreciated. If all else fails I'm now only out of sync by 35 weeks now, although I'm not sure if my intel atom netbook will reach critical mass before it completes haha.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

are youre wllet already sync ?
it will show sync done after 2 years but in fact just 1 day.

[NNH7]

Don't forget to backup your wallet, or you may have a bad time.

[origin12]

Thanks for the useful link, much appreciated. If all else fails I'm now only out of sync by 35 weeks now, although I'm not sure if my intel atom netbook will reach critical mass before it completes haha.

Atom's are made to run much slower than other CPUs to stop them overheating and to conserve battery life. Your blockchain sync would have been much faster using a core i3 or core i5 CPU.

[shorena]

Thanks for the useful link, much appreciated. If all else fails I'm now only out of sync by 35 weeks now, although I'm not sure if my intel atom netbook will reach critical mass before it completes haha.

I will stop following this thread, if you have more questions regarding bitcoin core/qt I suggest you open your next thread in the Tech Support section[1]. While posting here is not incorrect, this section tends to attract useless replies more than others. You could also lock this thread, should be either top right or bottom left. In any case search for "lock" (ctrl + f) should allow you to find it easily.

are youre wllet already sync ?
it will show sync done after 2 years but in fact just 1 day.

The green bar is no prediction how long it will take, but it states who long ago the last known block was found. Thus if it shows 2 years it knows the blockchain to a state 2 years ago. Remaining time until done is not predicted anywhere in the client.


[1] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=4.0