Which is the best way to recover funds on other (non-electrum) wallets?

chrade

newbie

Activity: 21

Merit: 8

Quote from: hugeblack

AFAIK, not all wallets support import master private key. so the best way is generate a new wallet using your new wallet and dump your old wallet by sending all your bitcoins to your new wallet.

Very good explanation, thank you!

hugeblack

legendary

Activity: 2702

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Quote from: chrade on March 15, 2021, 03:39:09 PM

From the reading I've done so far, I came to understand that we cannot use the seed, as it is not compatible with other wallets.

wallet seed is Bitcoin Improvement Proposals allow you to generate number of private keys from a single seed phrase.
check this great image for visualization:

you can read more about it here ----> https://medium.com/@harshagoli/hd-wallets-explained-from-high-level-to-nuts-and-bolts-9a41545f5b0

AFAIK, not all wallets support import master private key. so the best way is generate a new wallet using your new wallet and dump your old wallet by sending all your bitcoins to your new wallet.

chrade

newbie

Activity: 21

Merit: 8

Quote from: pooya87

But keep in mind that you should never import keys from one wallet into another or you would be increasing your risk of losing your coins to possible bugs or other issues.

Good to know! So the best thing is actually to send the funds with a transaction

Quote from: o_e_l_e_o

This means that if you export a "master private key" from Electrum and import it in to a BIP39 wallet, you may run in to problems with the derivation path and deriving the wrong set of addresses.

Excellent elaboration; I will avoid doing this.

o_e_l_e_o

legendary

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Quote from: hosseinimr93 on March 15, 2021, 04:11:36 PM

Quote from: chrade on March 15, 2021, 03:39:09 PM

Do not really understand if the master private key (mpk) can do this.

Yes, you can derive all your keys using the master private key.

Note that the command getmasterprivate() in Electrum does not actually return your master private key for BIP39 seed phrases, but rather returns your account extended private key.

For Electrum generated seed phrases, the master private key and the account extended private key are essentially the same thing, since each seed phrase is specific for either Legacy or Segwit, and Electrum derives at m/0 for Legacy or at m/0'/0 for Segwit.

For BIP39 seed phrases, however, they are not the same thing. Your account extended private key can only generate all the individual private keys and addresses in that account. So, for example, if you restore a BIP39 seed phrase to Electrum and select "Segwit", the getmasterprivate() command will return your account extended private key for m/84'/0'/0'. You will be able to derive all the private keys and address for that Segwit wallet, but you cannot use that account extended private key to derive the legacy wallet at m/44'/0'/0'.

This means that if you export a "master private key" from Electrum and import it in to a BIP39 wallet, you may run in to problems with the derivation path and deriving the wrong set of addresses.

pooya87

legendary

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We have 2 algorithms in HD wallets:
One is BIP32 which takes an entropy and like a key derivation function it derives all child keys. That entropy could be encoded as an extended private key (xprv) and imported in any HD wallets that derive keys deterministically.

The other one is a mnemonic scheme which uses an entropy and an optional extra entropy (referred to as "extension word" or "password") to derive another entropy that is given to BIP32 for child key derivation.
The initial entropy can be encoded as a list of words.
The method with which we derive the BIP32 entropy from the original entropy is different depending on the wallet. There is BIP39 algorithm, Electrum algorithm and another less popular one called AEZeed (used by some lightning wallets).

This is why the mnemonic (ie. the original entropy encoded as words) is not compatible with different wallets while xprv (from BIP32) is.
But keep in mind that you should never import keys from one wallet into another or you would be increasing your risk of losing your coins to possible bugs or other issues.

chrade

newbie

Activity: 21

Merit: 8

Thanks again, it is all clear now!

hosseinimr93

legendary

Activity: 2380

Merit: 5213

Quote from: chrade on March 15, 2021, 04:30:26 PM

Quote

Yes, you can derive all your private keys using the master private key.

Could you elaborate how it is done?

For exporting your master private key, go to console tab and enter the following command.

Code:

getmasterprivate()

Electrum will give you a key starting with zprv (if your wallet is segwit) or with xprv (if your wallet is legacy).
This key can be used to recover your wallet. For example, you can select "Use a master Key" in electrum, enter your master private key and access your wallet.

chrade

newbie

Activity: 21

Merit: 8

Thanks hosseinimr93 for the info!

Quote

Yes, you can derive all your private keys using the master private key.

Could you elaborate how it is done?

hosseinimr93

legendary

Activity: 2380

Merit: 5213

Quote from: chrade on March 15, 2021, 03:39:09 PM

From the reading I've done so far, I came to understand that we cannot use the seed, as it is not compatible with other wallets.

You can import the seed generated by electrum into bluewallet.
Just take note that the seed can be imported into bluewallet only if the wallet is not empty.

Quote from: chrade on March 15, 2021, 03:39:09 PM

Do not really understand if the master private key (mpk) can do this.

Yes, you can derive all your keys using the master private key.

Quote from: chrade on March 15, 2021, 03:39:09 PM

Is then exporting the private keys from electrum and inserting them on another non-electrum wallet, the best way?

This will also work.

If you want to have a seed phrase compatible with all wallets, you can use Iancoleman to generate a BIP39 seed.
For importing the wallet into electrum, select "I already have a seed" and then click on "options" and check "BIP39".

To have more security, you can download Iancoleman source code and run it on an air-gapped computer.

chrade

newbie

Activity: 21

Merit: 8

From the reading I've done so far, I came to understand that we cannot use the seed, as it is not compatible with other wallets.

Do not really understand if the master private key (mpk) can do this. Huh

Is then exporting the private keys from electrum and inserting them on another non-electrum wallet, the best way? Huh

Topic: Which is the best way to recover funds on other (non-electrum) wallets? (Read 189 times)