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Topic: Found an old BIP38 paper wallet and could use some help (Read 212 times)

legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18509
Starts with "6P"
Yes, that's a BIP38 encrypted private key then. Your only option will be to attempt to brute force the password.

Personally, I would try using btcrecover to do this: https://btcrecover.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
You would need to either set up a passwordlist file, which is simply a list of possible passwords you might have used, or a tokenlist file, which tells btcrecover how to generate potential passwords from a set of rules you define (such as 5 lowercase characters followed by 1 number, or something along those lines).

Any idea how many attempts per minute can be made with what I have?
GPUs don't offer much benefit for BIP38 unless you have lots of them. More likely you will be limited to a few dozen guesses a seconds by your CPU.

Also, after some research the paper wallet was created on https://bitcoinpaperwallet.com/ which looks like it has a sketchy past. Funds are still there, so that's a plus.
It used to be legit prior to it being sold in 2018, so your wallet from 5-6 years ago is probably OK if the funds have not been moved. Since it was sold in 2018 it has turned in to a scam site.
newbie
Activity: 5
Merit: 12
The passphrase wasn't very long. I doubt it even had any special characters
What about other passwords you were using at the time? Can you remember any of them and have you tried them?
Do you have any idea what the password might be, based on the way you generate passwords? If it is completely random characters then your chances of brute forcing it are very small. Or is it more likely that you chose a dictionary word or some other word which has meaning for you?
You say you think it will be short and not have any special characters - that's a start. What about numbers? What about uppercase/lowercase?

If you can't remember the decryption password, then you only option will be to attempt to brute force it, but as pooya87 says above, unless you can be more specific about what format the password might take then you are likely wasting your time.

I tried everything I could think of. My guess is the passphrase is likely 8 characters (max) with 1 uppercase and 1 number.

Think i'll give https://github.com/3rdIteration/btcrecover a try. Looks like it uses graphics card acceleration and I have an old i7 with a GTX570 I can setup and let run. Even if it takes a year, it's still worth it in the end.

Any idea how many attempts per minute can be made with what I have?

Also, after some research the paper wallet was created on https://bitcoinpaperwallet.com/ which looks like it has a sketchy past. Funds are still there, so that's a plus.
newbie
Activity: 5
Merit: 12
About 5 or 6 years ago a friend of mine was helping get into Bitcoin. He generated a paper wallet and ask me a passphrase to encrypt. I put some fraction of a Bitcoin on and totally forgot about it.
-snip-
With which character does your private key starts? 6, 5, K or L?
Because the "passphrase" might be for Brainwallet, not for BIP38 private key and you might have a bare WIF prvKey all along.

If it's any of the above but "6", it not encrypted.

Starts with "6P"
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18509
The passphrase wasn't very long. I doubt it even had any special characters
What about other passwords you were using at the time? Can you remember any of them and have you tried them?
Do you have any idea what the password might be, based on the way you generate passwords? If it is completely random characters then your chances of brute forcing it are very small. Or is it more likely that you chose a dictionary word or some other word which has meaning for you?
You say you think it will be short and not have any special characters - that's a start. What about numbers? What about uppercase/lowercase?

If you can't remember the decryption password, then you only option will be to attempt to brute force it, but as pooya87 says above, unless you can be more specific about what format the password might take then you are likely wasting your time.
legendary
Activity: 2394
Merit: 5531
Self-proclaimed Genius
About 5 or 6 years ago a friend of mine was helping get into Bitcoin. He generated a paper wallet and ask me a passphrase to encrypt. I put some fraction of a Bitcoin on and totally forgot about it.
-snip-
With which character does your private key starts? 6, 5, K or L?
Because the "passphrase" might be for Brainwallet, not for BIP38 private key and you might have a bare WIF prvKey all along.

If it's any of the above but "6", it not encrypted.
legendary
Activity: 3430
Merit: 10505
BIP38 is designed in a way that brute forcing it be extremely difficult due to the computationally expensive algorithm that is used when encrypting the key. You have to limit your search space as much as you can since even a 5 character long passphrase would take a long time to check. Not knowing the length and type of characters used in the passphrase would make it impossible to brute force.
newbie
Activity: 5
Merit: 12
You can always try to brute force it as mentioned above, or by using a service like WalletRecoveryServices, but unless you have a clear idea about the complexity (length, if special characters were used, etc.) of the password, these services are not going to be of too much help.

The passphrase wasn't very long. I doubt it even had any special characters


How long a passphrase are we talking here? You need a length range to brute-force effectively: something like between 8-12 characters or of the sort.

Not sure, but I strongly doubt it's anything more than 12 characters
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 6660
bitcoincleanup.com / bitmixlist.org
You can always try to brute force it as mentioned above, or by using a service like WalletRecoveryServices, but unless you have a clear idea about the complexity (length, if special characters were used, etc.) of the password, these services are not going to be of too much help.

The passphrase wasn't very long. I doubt it even had any special characters


How long a passphrase are we talking here? You need a length range to brute-force effectively: something like between 8-12 characters or of the sort.
newbie
Activity: 5
Merit: 12
You lost the whole encrypted password. You will not be able to recover the coins. The coins are gone. Sorry. If few characters were lost, btcrecover would have been helpful.

I have the Public and Encrypted Private keys, just not the passphrase



You can always try to brute force it as mentioned above, or by using a service like WalletRecoveryServices, but unless you have a clear idea about the complexity (length, if special characters were used, etc.) of the password, these services are not going to be of too much help.

The passphrase wasn't very long. I doubt it even had any special characters

[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]
staff
Activity: 3402
Merit: 6065
You can always try to brute force it as mentioned above, or by using a service like WalletRecoveryServices, but unless you have a clear idea about the complexity (length, if special characters were used, etc.) of the password, these services are not going to be of too much help.
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 4795
You lost the whole encrypted password. You will not be able to recover the coins. The coins are gone. Sorry. If few characters were lost, btcrecover would have been helpful.
newbie
Activity: 5
Merit: 12
About 5 or 6 years ago a friend of mine was helping get into Bitcoin. He generated a paper wallet and ask me a passphrase to encrypt. I put some fraction of a Bitcoin on and totally forgot about it. Fast forward to last week, I’m packing up to move into my new place and found this wallet. Decided to check it out and not only are the bitcoins are still there, but now they are worth a whole lot more. Enough to pay for 2 months rent, which I could really use. Problem is I can’t remember the passphrase I used and have been trying everything I could think of. Is there another way to access the coins or am I just out of luck?
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