In 2024, there are more investors who invested in Bitcoin a long time ago but now only remember their BTC vault number. Fortunately, sometimes a cryptocurrency account is recoverable. First, you need to find your old bitcoin wallet by address. If the number is unknown, you should use other methods to find it.
What a Bitcoin wallet address looks like
Most vault numbers consist of 26-35 letters of the Latin alphabet and numbers. Bitcoin address does not contain 0, O, I, l. In 2021, numbers start with the digits 1 and 3 or the characters bc. They are unique and case-sensitive letters. When conducting cryptocurrency transactions, it is recommended to copy the entire vault number rather than manually rewriting it.
Examples of BTC addresses:
- 1A3zP1eP5QQQefi44MPTfTL4SLmv7DivfNa.
- 3AsXDKX1etLpepepVeJbhj7WeZiypVMgdt.
- bc1uf5tdn87k2uz7r2kl5zrfww362ch3746lq5vse7.
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If the user sees something similar to the vault address in the records, the characters should be entered into blockchain monitoring. These sites allow you to track transactions. Information about the bitcoin wallet number can also be found in correspondence or advertisements on forums (if the user sold goods and services for the cryptocurrency).
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Is it possible to find an old bitcoin wallet by e-mail address
The user of a lost vault can recover it using e-mail. Often, the bitcoin address is duplicated in the e-mail sent by the service (where the blockchain participant creates a cryptocurrency account) to the e-mail specified during registration.
For example, the online resource blockchain.info (blockhain.com since 2018) previously forwarded a “Welcome to My Wallet” note with the BTC storage number to the mail of new users. If you cannot remember the password from it, it is recommended to contact the technical support of the cryptocurrency service.
If it is not possible to accurately recall the online service used, where the bitcoin account was registered, it is worth collecting a list of actual resources of that time. This will increase the search area of the letter from the desired platform, because the sender is often indicated by the domain of the site of the platform.
If the actual (working) e-mail has changed several times, it is worth making a list of all personal addresses beforehand. There is a high probability that not all the mail will be able to enter. Then the user will need to first restore access to e-mail.
How to find the number of the old wallet
Finding the data from a lost bitcoin storage after many years can be a difficult task. The investor forgets the storage location of the password and login. But there are several ways how and where to find an old Bitcoin wallet:
- Through a browser by service.
- Through analysis of the hard disk.
- In cloud storage.
- In a disk backup.
- On paper or hardware storage.
By service and browser
Google Chrome, Yandex Browser and Mozilla Firefox support the password saving feature. It allows you to automatically authorize on sites without entering data. The browser itself substitutes a password and login to log in to the account.
The information is stored on servers for many years. The exception is the deliberate removal of registration data from the database by the user. If the cryptocurrency platform allowed autosave information, the address can be stored in the browser.
Instructions for Chrome:
- Click on the personal profile icon (photo) in the top right corner of the screen.
- Go to your Google account settings.
- Go to the “Security” tab.
- Scroll down a bit and open the “Password Manager” app.
Registration data from the accounts of those services that allow auto-saving are stored here. The search function is available to the user. To view passwords, you need to confirm account ownership.
Hard disk analysis
It should be recalled whether the owner used a desktop wallet. If the user operates an old hard drive, theoretically, a backup (a backup copy of the program) can be stored on it. The copy file often has the following names:
- address.db.
- wallet.dat (more often the file is called this).
- wallet.aes.json.
To avoid going into each folder manually, it is better to use the search function through Explorer. The user needs to enter the name of the file and wait for the process to complete. The duration of the search depends on the amount of recorded information on the disk.
Cloud storage services
Some holders of cryptocurrency assets use third-party online resources. Among them are digital cloud storage services. The most common in 2021 were:
- iCloud.
- Microsoft OneDrive.
- Samsung Cloud.
- Google Drive.
When searching for an old BTC address, you can collect a list of popular cloud services at the time of wallet creation. If the user saved registration data on such a resource, they may well be there now.
Backups
There are programs and online services (Time Machine, backblaze.com or others) that allow you to create a disk backup. To find a bitcoin address, you can try looking at a backup of your PC’s data, if it has been saved.
Hardware and paper media
The wallet address and cryptocurrency keys can be copied to an external physical digital device or printed on a regular sheet of paper. These types of storage are called hardware and paper storage. They are often used to provide increased security to investments.
When looking for your old BTC account number, you should try to remember whether it was copied to an external device or printed on paper. Perhaps the address was saved on a physical medium and is lying at home.
How you can restore access to a forgotten BTC wallet
There are 3 main ways to get the vault back:
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Through a bitcoin wallet backup (usually called wallet.dat) | The default file is stored in C:usernamecomputer_nameappdataroamingBTC. It contains information about the account, all transactions made and crypto keys. |
| With the help of a seed phrase. | A seed – a list of 12, 18 or 24 random words – is generated for each wallet. Knowing the cid-phrase, the user should log in to the cryptocurrency platform through which the BTC wallet was registered. In the authorization form, one should click the button to restore access and specify the correct sequence of words from the seed. |
| Through a desktop cryptocurrency application. | Many of them have a command line that helps to find out the private key of the wallet. In the console, you need to use the commands dumpprivkey and importprivkey. |
Frequently Asked Questions
❓ How many bitcoins are irretrievably lost?
According to various estimates, about 4 million BTC coins have been lost on average. At the Bitcoin exchange rate as of November 9, 2021, the value of permanently lost funds is more than $272 billion.
📝 What is SHA-256?
It is an information hashing algorithm used by the developer of Bitcoin. SHA-256 allows for efficient encryption of data on the Bitcoin network.
🔎 Why do I need a wallet address?
Blockchain and network users refer to a BTC account number for cryptocurrency transactions.
🔧 How to find an old BTC wallet whose number was stored on a destroyed disk?
The only way out of the situation is to search for backups that may have been created on other media: paper, cloud service, email. But if there is no disk backup, you can’t restore your wallet.
💵 How much does Ledger hardware storage cost?
On the official website of the manufacturer, the price of the device is from 5499 rubles ($80), depending on the model.
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Author: Saifedean Ammous, an expert in cryptocurrency economics.
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