I have been interested and purchasing Bitcoin all the way since 2014. By no means am I any sort of technology expert - I have tried programming and failed hard. When I look at youtube clips of people getting pumped on building mining rigs, my eyes glaze over and I need a double shot to wake up. However, in the face of this technological lack, early on I downloaded a Multibit wallet and through a broker purchased my First Bitcoin. (I think this guy simply has coinbase account and took people's cash. Charging a 1.5% processing fee in the middle! LOL)
As I run my own company I did a computer upgrade and given that it was just one Bitcoin sitting on my old Mac, I handed it off to a staff member not really caring. But has I have seen the price increase in recent times along with becoming much more invested in the entire market space, I all of a sudden felt the huge hole in my life, which was my 'lost' Bitcoin.
So to detail the situation:
- I couldnt reacall the wallet that this transaction was saved to (lucky it was just one)
- This computer was the town slut and got used by 5-10 people over the space of 2 years. Given I didn't care about any sort of passwords or encryption at the time, any one of those staff could have easily made a quick flip!
- I wasn't even sure if the computer could be turned on
So my journey began. Looking through old emails, searching my hard drive for potential wallets. Fortunately, I ran across a setup file for a MultiBit wallet. So on an 8-year-old computer, I re-launched the application and like magic, no passwords needed, my Bitcoin, like magic, appeared! BOOM I'm in the game.
My heart sank when I looked up at the ticker and saw the words Mt Gox. Panic spread. Was this an actual wallet, or had I simply downloaded some sort of Mt Gox proxy client and I have been caught up in the biggest Crypto robbery of all time? I rushed to the settings and sure enough, I was able to connect to several other exchanges and Mt Gox faded quickly into the distance.
So my coin was safe. I was saved. I entered a new Bitcoin address to the wallet I enjoy using now and NOTHING. It seems that not updating your wallet, is much worse than not updating your browser or operating system. This market is moving fast and that does not play well if you're the king of the hybernators. Again panic - this has been almost as crazier day than the last 7 days of the Crypto markets!!
So I was able to tap into the private key. But of course, this was not the end of the drama. It seems that most wallets have upgraded their technology now to have the twelve-word phase as your master, rather than a whole bunch of random letters and numbers. So I started digging into the web, searching; "If I know my private key can I move my bitcoin from one wallet to another?" Every result came back, of course, you simply need to do a sweep or transfer. These obviously did not help me much as that means nothing to someone who only just bends his head around increasing your GAS to make sure you don't miss out on the next ICO. So Youtube saved me. A random German Youtuber, fortunately, had the best clip, on how to do a Bitcoin sweep using an Electrum Bitcoin wallet. I followed the actions step by step, not understanding a single word said, but POP, my coins were moved into the modern age. I had that little coin in my hand and now I am in control.
This was a mammoth effort and I am sure many of you will be rolling around on the ground laughing at my incompetence. But this was a big win for me and I enjoyed every moment of the problem-solving process.
Key take-homes:
- Keep your private keys in a very safe place
- Make good records of where you keep your tokens so you can access them in the future
Enjoy the ride - KTB