Bitcoin Wallet Recovery
How to Recover Your Bitcoin Wallet
We’ve mentioned in several other blog posts recently how to get a bitcoin wallet and the difference between public and private keys. And we’ve touched on what could occur if your phone gets stolen or you uninstall your bitcoin wallet app.
But let’s take a look at exactly how to recover your bitcoin wallet after that happens.
Re-Install the Wallet App
The first thing you’ll need to do, whether you lost your phone, uninstalled the wallet app or upgraded your device, is to reinstall your bitcoin wallet app. If you are using the Coin Cloud Wallet app, you can download it again from the App Store or Google Play.
Import Your Wallet
Hopefully you wrote down or otherwise stored your 12-word passphrase, or seed phrase, as we described in those previous articles. Once you retrieve your passphrase from where you stored it, whether on paper or electronically, you’re ready to recover your bitcoin.
Most wallet apps will behave in a similar manner, so we’ll show you how to do this with the Coin Cloud Wallet app.
In your app, go to Settings > Wallets > Add Wallet. Select the bottom option, which is Import Wallet. You will then be asked to type, paste or import your 12-word passphrase.
You will need to enter all 12 words, in order. This is unique to your specific bitcoin wallet, so it has to be exact. Alternatively, you can enter the 64-digit Extended Private Key, but most people prefer to type the 12 words instead.
For example, it will be similar to: practice feelings despair witch creek blouse cold planet shame least cruise collapse
If you chose to further encrypt your wallet with a seed extension password, you’ll need that 13th word as well. Once you have typed in your seed phrase, in order, touch “Import” at the top right of the screen. You will either begin importing your wallet and all its bitcoin, or you will get an error message and have to try again.
Keep in mind that you MUST have either your 12-word passphrase OR your extended private key in order to recover your bitcoin wallet. There’s no other way to do this.
Countless people have lost access to all their bitcoin by forgetting or misplacing the private keys and passphrase. Don’t let this be you! Back up your wallet before disaster strikes, so you always know you can get your money back in an emergency.
What is Coin Cloud?
Coin Cloud is a digital currency machine (DCM) company founded in 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. With over 1,400 locations nationwide, Coin Cloud is the world’s largest and fastest-growing network of two-way DCMs, a more advanced version of the Bitcoin ATM. Over 60% of all two-way bitcoin machines in the US are Coin Cloud DCMs, empowering you to quickly and easily buy and sell 30+ virtual currency options with cash. You can find your nearest Coin Cloud DCM here.
