Hello everyone,
I've been involved with Bitcoin since around 2017, initially buying Bitcoin on exchanges. As my understanding deepened, and I learned about the principle of "not your keys, not your coins," I started looking for a wallet to securely store my Bitcoin. I chose BRD from the bitcoin.org official website due to its simplicity and clarity, making it an ideal choice for my cold wallet. Around 2018, I installed BRD on my old iPhone 6 and generated a 12-word recovery phrase, which I diligently wrote down and kept on paper. Subsequently, I gradually transferred my Bitcoin to this wallet, never spending any of it. During this time, I occasionally logged into the wallet, reassuringly seeing my coins and transaction records.
I can guarantee that my recovery phrase is correct, as I successfully imported it and recovered my Bitcoin on my other old iPhone X using the BRD wallet. Additionally, I have recommended this wallet to numerous friends.
Last year, I heard about BRD being acquired by Coinbase, but I didn't pay much attention, thinking that I could restore my funds anywhere with the 12-word recovery phrase. However, just last week, a friend mentioned that he was unsuccessful in restoring his funds using the BRD recovery phrase in another wallet. This caught my attention, and when I tried to log into the BRD wallet, I encountered a login failure, prompting a mandatory upgrade.
I started using other wallets such as Bither, Coinbase, Unstoppable, Coinomi, Coin Wallet, Electrum, etc., to recover my Bitcoin, but all attempts were unsuccessful. I realized the gravity of the situation.
I have explored almost all the methods mentioned online, indicating that BRD uses the BIP032 m/0H derivation path to generate addresses. I even used wallets supporting modification of the derivation path, but to no avail. I can confirm that my wallet addresses are legacy addresses. I checked the most recent two transactions on the exchange, and I can see my coins associated with the addresses on Blockchair (I can provide details if needed). Unfortunately, I have been unable to recover my addresses using the recovery phrase, and my friend is facing the same issue.
I attempted different derivation paths such as m/0H/1, m/0H/0/, m/0H/0H/, m/44H/0H/0H, etc. I even examined BRD's source code and found that the code also uses m/0H as the derivation path, but all efforts to recover were unsuccessful.
I am under immense stress, and my mental state is deteriorating. My entire wealth is in there. As a HODLer, I have always held onto my Bitcoin, never spending any. However, now it seems that it has all vanished into thin air. Even as a cryptocurrency enthusiast preaching the virtues of decentralization, my faith is shaken. I used to evangelize Bitcoin to others, and now I find myself in this unfortunate situation.
I am reaching out to all of you for help. Please, if there's any method or suggestion to recover my Bitcoin, I would be extremely grateful. Thank you all in advance for your assistance.