Casascius Sweeping | Bitcointalksearch.org

nc50lc

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Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 10:39:01 AM

I ended up just importing them and sending them to a newly generated Ledger wallet, I skipped the offline signing. I had to keep it simple as a newbie.
Painless success!

Thank you so much to you all for your answers and your time, you really made it all feel safer to do this!
I hope your posts will help others in the future, I sure will come back and read over it next time if I’m unable to sell my other coins to collectors over the next couple of years.

Okay that works too, but you should've just use sweep to your Electrum wallet created with your Ledger Nano,
That's much simpler than creating a new online imported wallet with the private key.

The whole reason why cold-storage setup is recommended by the majority is for the safety of your coins while sending the bitcoins in case your PC is compromised.
It's not simple but the "air-gap" offline machine where the private key will be exposed is impervious to most hacking attempts.
Considering the amount contained in a Casascius Coin, I'd still wont recommend sweeping the private key on an online machine.

blue Snow

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Quote from: BitMaxz on November 21, 2023, 05:05:14 PM

Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 05:13:31 AM

My Ledgers are old now an will probably need to be updated. I probably need create a new Ledger wallet on an online machine, but there shouldn’t be much risk right? The Ledger is only receiving unless I missed something.

Creating a wallet or generating a new seed on the ledger doesn't require an online machine.

Yes, That's true, I just remembered creating new Nano S seed using a power bank. there is a step we can create the new wallet seed without connecting the internet.

but still, when we have to use the wallet, we must download the Bitcoin application on the ledger live online 1st to create a new address received or connect to electrum wallet.

it means it's still raw, we can't use it when don't have the application bitcoin on the ledger wallet.

BitMaxz

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Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 05:13:31 AM

My Ledgers are old now an will probably need to be updated. I probably need create a new Ledger wallet on an online machine, but there shouldn’t be much risk right? The Ledger is only receiving unless I missed something.

Creating a wallet or generating a new seed on the ledger doesn't require an online machine.

Please check how to set up your ledger below
- https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000613793-Set-up-your-Ledger-Nano-S?docs=true

About the risk I don't know how safe the ledger is, it does not have open-source code I do not know how this hardware wallet protects your keys online but creating a watch only with your ledger shouldn't have any risk.

satscraper

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Quote from: hosseinimr93 on November 21, 2023, 11:37:04 AM

Quote from: satscraper on November 21, 2023, 10:55:43 AM

When you sweep, the only stuff to backup is you SEED phrase (or maybe plus a password if you choose to use it) while after importing there is one more thing to backup, namely your Casascius private key.

I feel you are confusing password with passphrase.
What you need to backup is the seed phrase (+passphrase, if there's any.)
Take note that your password encrpyts the wallet file locally, but if you have a passphrase and you don't add that to your seed phrase when recovering the wallet, you will generate completely different addresses.

Then I must admit that your feeling is wrong. I don't confuse those things and what which of them is used for.

Having in mind restoration, there is no sense to backup password used to encrypt wallet. The latter can be restored without it.

Regarding password ( you call it passphrase, other call it 25^th word) which accompanies SEED at wallet creation the lack of its backup represents a point of failure.

From the context of my previous message it is clear that I meant the password (call it passphrase if you want) used at wallet creation.

Cheese.

hosseinimr93

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Quote from: satscraper on November 21, 2023, 10:55:43 AM

When you sweep, the only stuff to backup is you SEED phrase (or maybe plus a password if you choose to use it) while after importing there is one more thing to backup, namely your Casascius private key.

I feel you are confusing password with passphrase.
What you need to backup is the seed phrase (+passphrase, if there's any.)
Take note that your password encrpyts the wallet file locally, but if you have a passphrase and you don't add that to your seed phrase when recovering the wallet, you will generate completely different addresses.

satscraper

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Quote from: Flein on November 20, 2023, 05:45:47 PM

Hi, can I sweep the private key directly to my Ledger address, or do I need to sweep it to Electrum standard wallet then send it to the Ledger address ?

Quote from: Flein on November 20, 2023, 05:45:47 PM

Also a noob question. Do I need to download and update Bitcoin Core to use Electrum?

Sweeping involves transaction that moves your stash from address controlled by Casascius private key to new address controlled by private key generated by Electrum. thus this operation requires fee to pay. It doesn't import Casascius private key. On the other hand, importing Casascius private key into Electrum doesn't require such fee as it all stash remains on the address controlled by that key. I would advocate sweeping rather than importing as the latter requires more stuff to backup. When you sweep, the only stuff to backup is you SEED phrase (or maybe plus a password if you choose to use it) while after importing there is one more thing to backup, namely your Casascius private key.

Quote from: Flein on November 20, 2023, 05:45:47 PM

Also a noob question. Do I need to download and update Bitcoin Core to use Electrum?

There is no need if you use the public nodes to connect to, rather that Electrum personal server.

Flein

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I ended up just importing them and sending them to a newly generated Ledger wallet, I skipped the offline signing. I had to keep it simple as a newbie.
Painless success!

Thank you so much to you all for your answers and your time, you really made it all feel safer to do this!
I hope your posts will help others in the future, I sure will come back and read over it next time if I’m unable to sell my other coins to collectors over the next couple of years.

<3<3<3

hosseinimr93

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Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 07:21:20 AM

Or do I make an standard wallet then import the private key the send to the Ledger address?

As mentioned by LoyceV above, you have two options. You can either make a new wallet and then sweep your private key or create a new wallet by importing your private key.

Just note that there is no way to import a private key to an electrum standard wallet. Sweeping a private key is different from importing a private key.

Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 07:43:45 AM

Will this change the steps so the video wont explain everything I need to know?

To export the transaction, click on "Share". You will have the options to export your transaction as a QR code or a file.

The difference between your case and what explained in the video is that you have a private key and an address instead of a seed phrase and a master public key.
As mentioned by nc50lc, you should select "Import bitcoin address or private keys" when creating your wallets.

Flein

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Quote from: nc50lc on November 21, 2023, 12:30:53 AM

Quote from: Flein on November 20, 2023, 08:10:25 PM

The video was very good, thanks. But how do I proceed in the start with the private key, do I use sweep on the offline wallet?

.

Then you can follow the same cold-storage setup procedure to create, sign and broadcast a transaction that'll send the entire funds to your Ledger.
I noticed that the video is old, in the new version, you can export/import PSBT transactions as file via "Share->Save to file".
Note: Confirm every character of the address before broadcasting the finalized transaction.

Will this change the steps so the video wont explain everything I need to know?

Flein

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Quote from: LoyceV on November 21, 2023, 07:26:18 AM

Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 07:21:20 AM

Do I first import instead of making standard wallet then send it to the address.

This works.

Quote

Or do I make an standard wallet then import them send to the Ledger address?

This also works (but takes 2 transactions, 2 transaction fees, and means your cold storage funds spend a bit more time in a hot wallet.

Quote

Are sweeping involved in any way in the procedure?

Any Electrum wallet can sweep a private key directly to the Ledger address you enter.

Basically, you have options

What I would do, but that is my personal preference, is import the private key into Electrum, then make the transaction to the Ledger (and this is the easiest method to add offline signing to the mix).

Thank you! xD

LoyceV

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Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 07:21:20 AM

Do I first import instead of making standard wallet then send it to the address.

This works.

Quote

Or do I make an standard wallet then import them send to the Ledger address?

This also works (but takes 2 transactions, 2 transaction fees, and means your cold storage funds spend a bit more time in a hot wallet.

Quote

Are sweeping involved in any way in the procedure?

Any Electrum wallet can sweep a private key directly to the Ledger address you enter.

Basically, you have options

What I would do, but that is my personal preference, is import the private key into Electrum, then make the transaction to the Ledger (and this is the easiest method to add offline signing to the mix).

Flein

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Quote from: LoyceV on November 21, 2023, 07:02:47 AM

Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 06:55:09 AM

Is sweeping in essence just en extra unnecessary step vs importing if I just want it directly on my ledger wallet?

Import: add the private key to your wallet. Funds don't move.
Sweep: move all funds from the private key to a new address. Funds move.
You can't import a private key on a hardware wallet.

Feels like I’m getting stupider and more confused every time I read the posts.
Do I first import the private key instead of making standard wallet then send it to the Ledger address.
Or do I make an standard wallet then import the private key the send to the Ledger address?
Are sweeping involved in any way in the procedure?

LoyceV

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Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 06:55:09 AM

Is sweeping in essence just en extra unnecessary step vs importing if I just want it directly on my ledger wallet?

Import: add the private key to your wallet. Funds don't move.
Sweep: move all funds from the private key to a new address. Funds move.
You can't import a private key on a hardware wallet.

Flein

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Quote from: LoyceV on November 21, 2023, 06:33:16 AM

Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 06:19:08 AM

So all I need to do is change from the default Electrum address to the Ledger address?

Yes. And check the address.

I always do

Is sweeping in essence just en extra unnecessary step vs importing if I just want it directly on my ledger wallet?

LoyceV

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Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 06:19:08 AM

So all I need to do is change from the default Electrum address to the Ledger address?

Yes. And check the address.

Flein

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Quote from: Abdussamad on November 21, 2023, 05:42:44 AM

You can sweep directly to an address in your ledger wallet. You don't need to create a new wallet to do this.

https://bitcoinelectrum.com/sweeping-your-private-keys-into-electrum/

So all I need to do is change from the default Electrum address to the Ledger address?

LoyceV

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Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 05:13:31 AM

My Ledgers are old now an will probably need to be updated. I probably need create a new Ledger wallet on an online machine, but there shouldn’t be much risk right? The Ledger is only receiving unless I missed something.

You may need to update the Ledger if it's old enough not to support Segwit yet. Other than that, if it works, it works.
Ledger used to be safe even connected to a compromised computer, but nowadays they lost a lot of credibility.

Abdussamad

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You can sweep directly to an address in your ledger wallet. You don't need to create a new wallet to do this.

https://bitcoinelectrum.com/sweeping-your-private-keys-into-electrum/

Flein

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My Ledgers are old now an will probably need to be updated. I probably need create a new Ledger wallet on an online machine, but there shouldn’t be much risk right? The Ledger is only receiving unless I missed something.

LoyceV

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Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 04:25:33 AM

The Linux Live DVD is too complicated, but thank you anyway!

It's really not that complicated, but takes some time. When dealing with 0.5 Bitcoin, it's the only way to be certain malware can't get to your coins. The chance may be small but the risk is huge.

Quote

Edit: Can I create a new Ledger Wallet on an offline machine?

I can't tell: if the new Ledger wants an update first, it may not work. But it doesn't hurt to just try.

Note that "offline" is not the same as air gapped, if you plug your internet cable back in later.

Flein

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The Linux Live DVD is too complicated, but thank you anyway!

I will give the offline signing a try with 0.5 Casascius and report back. Thank you all so far!

Edit: Can I create a new Ledger Wallet on an offline machine?

LoyceV

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Quote from: Flein on November 20, 2023, 07:30:49 PM

Is there a video or step by step guide on this signing process?

This is how I would do it:

Quote from: LoyceV on February 19, 2021, 01:35:55 PM

Online:
Install Electrum on your PC.
Import your address to create a watch-only wallet.
Preview the transaction, Copy the unsigned transaction. Put it on a USB stick.

Offline and running without hard drive storage:
Get a Linux LIVE DVD. Use Knoppix or Tails for instance, or any other distribution that comes with Electrum pre-installed.
Unplug your internet cable. Close the curtains. Reboot your computer and start up from that DVD. Don't enter any wireless connection password. Keep it offline.
Start Electrum. Import your private key.
Copy your unsigned transaction from the USB stick, load it into Electrum.
CHECK the transaction in Electrum. Check the fees, check the amount, check all destination addresses (character by character).
If all is okay, sign the transaction. Copy it back to your USB stick.
Turn off the computer. That wipes the Live LINUX from memory and all traces are gone.

Online:
Use your normal online Electrum to (check again and) broadcast the transaction.

Bonus:
After moving all your Bitcoin, and once the transaction confirmed, check if you own Forkcoins.

seek3r

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Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 03:01:58 AM

About selling these. I live in Norway. Sadly there is no market for this here. I used to be very active here in the marketplace, and after being offline for some months my account got hacked and scammed someone. I registered again, and just posted a few posts, when I returned here some months later my new account had been banned for spamming(?). Seems to me this site isn’t very secure. I have a hard time trusting selling and buying here.

Ok, understandable.
If I were you I would choose that way aswell, especially if it's one of the larger coins. The risk of something going wrong during transport is simply too great.
With the new account, the buyer will certainly only agree to an exchange with middleman.

However, with the help of others the process shouldn't be a problem. To be on the safe side, test with a quickly created paper wallet or similar with a small amount.

Flein

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Quote from: nc50lc on November 21, 2023, 03:14:07 AM

Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 03:01:58 AM

Ok, so on the offline account I just use import in the start instead of sweep on an standard account?

"Offline Electrum wallet", yes, what you need is to create a new 'imported' wallet containing the private key.
This wallet is only required to sign the transaction that you'll create in the online Electrum wallet.

Quote from: Flein

Where in the steps do I input my newly generated Ledger address?

During the step when sending a new transaction in the 'Send' tab of online Electrum wallet.
That'll be your recipient "Pay to" address.

Excellent, thank you!

nc50lc

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Quote from: Flein on November 21, 2023, 03:01:58 AM

Ok, so on the offline account I just use import in the start instead of sweep on an standard account?

"Offline Electrum wallet", yes, what you need is to create a new 'imported' wallet containing the private key.
This wallet is only required to sign the transaction that you'll create in the online Electrum wallet.

Quote from: Flein

Where in the steps do I input my newly generated Ledger address?

During the step when sending a new transaction in the 'Send' tab of online Electrum wallet.
That'll be your recipient "Pay to" address.

Flein

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Ok, so on the offline account I just use import in the start instead of sweep on an standard account? Where in the steps do I input my newly generated Ledger address?

About selling these. I live in Norway. Sadly there is no market for this here. I used to be very active here in the marketplace, and after being offline for some months my account got hacked and scammed someone. I registered again, and just posted a few posts, when I returned here some months later my new account had been banned for spamming(?). Seems to me this site isn’t very secure. I have a hard time trusting selling and buying here.

seek3r

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I dont know where you are located right now but you might wanna consider to sell these casascius instead of peeling it.
You will get a good premium on the coin as long as it is still unpeeled. We have a collectibles section in the forum where there are enough collectors who are always looking for these coins. Especially Casascius Wink

The user @minerjones - who is really trusted here and has already accompanied or concluded a number of deals himself - will certainly be able to help you with the sale. Maybe worth considering... the coin stays unpeeled and you would get more than the nomination of that coin.

nc50lc

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Quote from: Flein on November 20, 2023, 08:10:25 PM

The video was very good, thanks. But how do I proceed in the start with the private key, do I use sweep on the offline wallet?

In you offline machine, proceed to create a new wallet and select the option "Import bitcoin address or private keys" and paste your prvKey there.
Your Casascius' mini-private key is supported by Electrum and wont be needing additional prefix since the address is legacy.

In you online machine, do the same procedure but import the address instead of the mini-private key.

Then you can follow the same cold-storage setup procedure to create, sign and broadcast a transaction that'll send the entire funds to your Ledger.
I noticed that the video is old, in the new version, you can export/import PSBT transactions as file via "Share->Save to file".
Note: Confirm every character of the address before broadcasting the finalized transaction.

Zaguru12

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Quote from: Flein on November 20, 2023, 07:30:49 PM

Does existing Ledger qualify as offline device? Or should I generate a new seed like bitmover advices? Can this be done offline?

Ledger is an hardware wallet which yes qualifies as an offline wallet, the problem is we do not know how you were signing your transaction or how you were using the seed generated with it. If by any chance it has been imported before into an online wallet then it doesn’t qualify again to be an offline wallet. You remove all this doubt I would say it is best you create another one, since you have a better knowledge now of how offline wallet are at least you will protect this one better

Quote from: Flein on November 20, 2023, 08:10:25 PM

The video was very good, thanks. But how do I proceed in the start with the private key, do I use sweep on the offline wallet?

Yes technically the sweeping of private key is just like sending bitcoin to an address (this time to your own already generated address) so it could be done on an offline device and then singed on the online one. Just follow the link above to Create an offline transaction and how to sign it on the online device but use this guide to sweeping it instead of regular transactions, https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#can-i-sweep-private-keys-from-other-bitcoin-clients

Flein

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Quote from: BitMaxz on November 20, 2023, 07:58:43 PM

Quote from: Flein on November 20, 2023, 07:30:49 PM

Thanks for the answers! Is there a video or step by step guide on this signing process? This seems very complicated to me.

You need two devices to be able to make an airgap/offline transaction. Please read the guide from Electrum docs here below

- https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html

Or follow the guide from this video below.

- https://youtu.be/DQumISxkJsQ?si=KtBwBzhwjefpGClp

The video was very good, thanks. But how do I proceed in the start with the private key, do I use sweep on the offline wallet?

BitMaxz

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Block halving is coming.

Quote from: Flein on November 20, 2023, 07:30:49 PM

Thanks for the answers! Is there a video or step by step guide on this signing process? This seems very complicated to me.

You need two devices to be able to make an airgap/offline transaction. Please read the guide from Electrum docs here below

- https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html

Or follow the guide from this video below.

- https://youtu.be/DQumISxkJsQ?si=KtBwBzhwjefpGClp

Flein

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Thanks for the answers! Is there a video or step by step guide on this signing process? This seems very complicated to me.

Quote from: hosseinimr93 on November 20, 2023, 06:22:06 PM

For more security, it's recommended to sign your transaction offline.
To do so, you need to create a watch-only wallet with your address on an online device and another wallet with your private key on an offline device (preferably an air-gapped device).

Does existing Ledger qualify as offline device? Or should I generate a new seed like bitmover advices? Can this be done offline?

hosseinimr93

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You can import your private key in electrum and send the fund to any address you want.

For more security, it's recommended to sign your transaction offline.
To do so, you need to create a watch-only wallet with your address on an online device and another wallet with your private key on an offline device (preferably an air-gapped device).

Create an unsigned transaction using your watch-only wallet, export the unsigned transaction using a QR code or a text file. Sign the transaction on your offline wallet, export the signed transaction and then broadcast it using your online device.

LoyceMobile

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LoyceV on the road. Or couch.

No need to sign online. Don't risk it, keep your private key offline.
LoyceV post full instructions here tomorrow!

TryNinja

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Quote from: Flein on November 20, 2023, 05:45:47 PM

Hi, can I sweep the private key directly to my Ledger address, or do I need to sweep it to Electrum standard wallet then send it to the Ledger address ?

You can. Just import the private key on Electrum rather than create a brand new wallet and then sweep the coins to it. After importing it, you can send the coins directly to your Ledger address. That will save you a step and an extra transaction.

Open Electrum -> Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys -> Type your private-key -> Press Next

Quote from: Flein on November 20, 2023, 05:45:47 PM

Do I need to download and update Bitcoin Core to use Electrum?

You don't. Electrum is a lightweight wallet, so you'll connect to a third party node by default.

bitmover

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Quote from: Flein on November 20, 2023, 05:45:47 PM

Hi, can I sweep the private key directly to my Ledger address, or do I need to sweep it to Electrum standard wallet then send it to the Ledger address ?

For security, you should first create a new wallet in ledger (generate a new seed). Save the seed in a paper.
Then generate your public address

Then you transfer all your funds from the old wallet (casascius) to this new public address you just generated.

Don't sweep private keys. Generate a new seed in your ledger.

Then move from electrum to ledger.

Quote

Also a noob question. Do I need to download and update Bitcoin Core to use Electrum?

No. Just download the electrum wallet from electrum.org

No need to use bitcoin core.

Flein

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Hi, can I sweep the private key directly to my Ledger address, or do I need to sweep it to Electrum standard wallet then send it to the Ledger address ?

Also a noob question. Do I need to download and update Bitcoin Core to use Electrum?

Topic: Casascius Sweeping (Read 248 times)