Problem recovering transaction from 2009 wallet

[Henkey]

Hello, I don't know if this is the right place here, I hope so....

 I have a wallet that contains some bitcoin mined from march 2009 june 2009 by my brother.
Since they were worthless and he had changed his laptop he left everything there....
Now I found it and tried using it with version 0.95.

My problem  is this, it seems that no mining transaction is entered into the blockchain even though as soon as I open it (before it updates the blockchain) it tells me I have X bitcoin and shows me all the mining transactions. I preface, it has not done any transfer operation.

I am attaching one of these mining transactions hoping you can tell me something, even just an idea to recover them.

Thank's





gettransaction "ef4fbf9cbca98540ea043c1a12b906af176b2d8a50f4dddfa10632e94a1bb748"
{
"amount" : 50.00000000,
"confirmations" : 437,
"generated" : true,
"blockhash" : "000000009df7cae8906f25033e7cd53fdb4fe04b338a94dfef8e6eda18649cc2",
"blockindex" : 0,
"blocktime" : 1243187650,
"txid" : "ef4fbf9cbca98540ea043c1a12b906af176b2d8a50f4dddfa10632e94a1bb748",
"walletconflicts" : [
],
"time" : 1243187650,
"timereceived" : 1243187650,
"details" : [
{
"account" : "",
"address" : "12bp69KNGPv3o5R8q1wbZBqAxtrv3GFS5P",
"category" : "generate",
"amount" : 50.00000000
}
],
"hex" : "01000000010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000fffff fff0c02b229010a062f503253482fffffffff0100f2052a0100000023210353534d9d8cdd7255dc 4eeac1a2e68004c75520917b775b0655f15cf073703be8ac00000000"
}

It sounds like you might be dealing with "stale" blocks or unconfirmed transactions. In the early days of Bitcoin, some mined blocks didn’t get added to the main blockchain due to the lack of network participants, which may explain why you see the mined transactions but they aren’t showing up in the blockchain now.

A possible step is to try loading the wallet using the latest Bitcoin Core version and let it fully sync with the blockchain. Make sure to back up your wallet.dat file first! If the coins were mined back in 2009 and they are part of confirmed blocks, they should appear once the blockchain syncs properly.

If you're still having issues, you might want to reach out to a Bitcoin recovery service, but be cautious and ensure you're working with a trusted party.

[Cricktor]

I ask a stupid question..... if I put together 130 virtual machines (not a problem for me) , send coinbase transactions created with these private keys and have them authorized by the 130 machines, do you think it is feasible?

You could put up a million virtual machines and it won't matter for the consensus blockchain of the one and only Bitcoin, because you can't undo and recreate the proof of work of more than 855,000+ blocks. (I just eyeballed the amount based from the blockcount of your stale chain...)

It sounds like you might be dealing with "stale" blocks or unconfirmed transactions. In the early days of Bitcoin, some mined blocks didn’t get added to the main blockchain due to the lack of network participants, which may explain why you see the mined transactions but they aren’t showing up in the blockchain now.

His transactions aren't unconfirmed. They are all confirmed in a stale branch of his own blockchain which isn't the consensus blockchain. It very much looks like his blockchain isn't the one accepted and verified by the majority of Bitcoin nodes.

If you're still having issues, you might want to reach out to a Bitcoin recovery service, but be cautious and ensure you're working with a trusted party.

If his transactions and blockhashes aren't known to the consensus blockchain, there's nothing to recover. Don't waste your time on that.

[d5000]

Just one more thought:

I agree that the likelihood to any of the blocks (and thus transactions/coins) being valid is very low.

But the most likely ones to be valid are the earliest blocks mined. It is at least possible that your brother mined some valid blocks but then his network got isolated and the rest are orphans (stale blocks, i.e. those you won't see if you connect to the current network). If you checked mainly transactions/blocks that were mined later (and are not shown as valid), then it is still possible (with let's say <0,1% probability) that you're more lucky with earlier ones.

If the old client shows all transactions as "valid" and "mined" (like it seems to be the case according to the screenshots) then even if there are blocks which were "really" confirmed in the canonical Bitcoin blockchain, once there is one which was not and got "orphaned", it's (almost) impossible that a further block in the chain from this moment on was accepted, because all blocks contain a hash from the block before, so no block can be "exchanged".

So I would start the process of checking the blocks/transactions strictly chronologically, from first to last. Do it like Cricktor described here.

[DaveF]

Just one more thought:

I agree that the likelihood to any of the blocks (and thus transactions/coins) being valid is very low.

But the most likely ones to be valid are the earliest blocks mined. It is at least possible that your brother mined some valid blocks but then his network got isolated and the rest are orphans (stale blocks, i.e. those you won't see if you connect to the current network). If you checked mainly transactions/blocks that were mined later (and are not shown as valid), then it is still possible (with let's say <0,1% probability) that you're more lucky with earlier ones.

If the old client shows all transactions as "valid" and "mined" (like it seems to be the case according to the screenshots) then even if there are blocks which were "really" confirmed in the canonical Bitcoin blockchain, once there is one which was not and got "orphaned", it's (almost) impossible that a further block in the chain from this moment on was accepted, because all blocks contain a hash from the block before, so no block can be "exchanged".

So I would start the process of checking the blocks/transactions strictly chronologically, from first to last. Do it like Cricktor described here.

Good thought.
Also, was there more then one PC that he might have been using at the time. If one fell off the network but saw a block from the other that it accepted it would be very easy at that point to just keep mining forked blocks.

It's unfortunate that the transactions seem legitimately came from early days mining based from the timestamps' gaps.
But one Bitcoin client (node) can't just command all of the client to replace their blockchain with his own version of the blockchain.

I ask a stupid question..... if I put together 130 virtual machines (not a problem for me) , send coinbase transactions created with these private keys and have them authorized by the 130 machines, do you think it is feasible?

That will essentially create your own fork of Bitcoin (an Altcoin of your creation) since you'll build your own network of nodes that will not be able to connect to Bitcoin nodes. (since those will reject your blocks)
Its blockchain will build over from the last block that your brother mined, it wont affect the Bitcoin Network.

Or, as I have described it think of your checkbook. No matter what numbers you put it (mining locally on a fork) it does not matter. All that matters is what your bank has a record of (the real public blockchain).

That or the OP bought a fake wallet.dat that someone told him was real and we have all been wasting our time.

-Dave

[gigi0ne]

That or the OP bought a fake wallet.dat that someone told him was real and we have all been wasting our time.

Unfortunately, I can't ask him anymore....

I don't think so, but I can't put my hand on fire....

thank you all

[bitcurve]

Are you absolutely sure that these addresses used to be funded?
Share some of the addresses with as.

I did a transaction export is that okay?

"true","2009-02-26T23:56:24","Mined","","14ST7DPUUuGjLF8Ups8pwaw4axDbZkFgXi","50.00","d4a5ac52d3a9bd89673847cb1dbfa8db744fa7be730014ddd1d7001f66b957c9-000"
"true","2009-02-26T23:46:11","Mined","","13ebUvauPqSDrcCYRPsDzWCDYaowGqUCo5","50.00","3105fd3984b44837322246d6098e38f0bb4861f4c2ce043e3d9f6dc428c57a9b-000"
"true","2009-02-26T23:34:57","Mined","","12tQPs7eJ8rQG5zkpoMS6pCRSvsh8Ybhse","50.00","94c392a839ec6bd0f324cfaffae9ba2685521ccc5242910ac4281b82399ea509-000"

he started mining on February 4 and mined until May 28, but those with enough confirmations stop on May 27.

the ones after that have less than 101 approvals

can i write to you privately? i have more information but i don't know whether to write it here....

These addresses/transactions may be found on your copy of the blockchain, but it doesn't matter if it's not out there on any other node. something went wrong with the configuration or networking, I really don't know, but based on what you sent so far, these mined coins of yours truly exist only on your machine.

don't lose hope, maybe you'll find other files in the same or different computer with some treasure coins inside

[COBRAS]

Hello, I don't know if this is the right place here, I hope so....

 I have a wallet that contains some bitcoin mined from march 2009 june 2009 by my brother.
Since they were worthless and he had changed his laptop he left everything there....
Now I found it and tried using it with version 0.95.

My problem  is this, it seems that no mining transaction is entered into the blockchain even though as soon as I open it (before it updates the blockchain) it tells me I have X bitcoin and shows me all the mining transactions. I preface, it has not done any transfer operation.

I am attaching one of these mining transactions hoping you can tell me something, even just an idea to recover them.

Thank's





gettransaction "ef4fbf9cbca98540ea043c1a12b906af176b2d8a50f4dddfa10632e94a1bb748"
{
"amount" : 50.00000000,
"confirmations" : 437,
"generated" : true,
"blockhash" : "000000009df7cae8906f25033e7cd53fdb4fe04b338a94dfef8e6eda18649cc2",
"blockindex" : 0,
"blocktime" : 1243187650,
"txid" : "ef4fbf9cbca98540ea043c1a12b906af176b2d8a50f4dddfa10632e94a1bb748",
"walletconflicts" : [
],
"time" : 1243187650,
"timereceived" : 1243187650,
"details" : [
{
"account" : "",
"address" : "12bp69KNGPv3o5R8q1wbZBqAxtrv3GFS5P",
"category" : "generate",
"amount" : 50.00000000
}
],
"hex" : "01000000010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000fffff fff0c02b229010a062f503253482fffffffff0100f2052a0100000023210353534d9d8cdd7255dc 4eeac1a2e68004c75520917b775b0655f15cf073703be8ac00000000"
}

It sounds like you might be dealing with "stale" blocks or unconfirmed transactions. In the early days of Bitcoin, some mined blocks didn’t get added to the main blockchain due to the lack of network participants, which may explain why you see the mined transactions but they aren’t showing up in the blockchain now.

A possible step is to try loading the wallet using the latest Bitcoin Core version and let it fully sync with the blockchain. Make sure to back up your wallet.dat file first! If the coins were mined back in 2009 and they are part of confirmed blocks, they should appear once the blockchain syncs properly.

If you're still having issues, you might want to reach out to a Bitcoin recovery service, but be cautious and ensure you're working with a trusted party.

Adresses, like 12bp69KNGPv3o5R8q1wbZBqAxtrv3GFS5P, not in blockchain.

[twizzy.28]

uhh i might be a little bit late finding your problem but i have went through the same problem back in 2017 and solved it and i think i know what is your problem exactly . your wallet needs some dust cleaning and recovering it on a specific platform with a specific way(the same way i used to recover mine)and you mentioned that you still have the private keys which will make it much more easier ,so if you see this and you still want to recover it, ill be available for you any time lol |

[Cricktor]

uhh i might be a little bit late finding your problem but i have went through the same problem back in 2017 and solved it and i think i know what is your problem exactly . your wallet needs some dust cleaning and recovering it on a specific platform with a specific way(the same way i used to recover mine)and you mentioned that you still have the private keys which will make it much more easier ,so if you see this and you still want to recover it, ill be available for you any time lol |

Deliberate full quote for preservation. At least you could try with more than just one defunct brain cell to scam the OP. Elaborate how your magic recovery works!

@gigi0ne Do not fall to such lame scam attempts. If such morons like twizzy.28 contact you via PM, report them as unsolicited spam or scam attempts. Be careful!

[vshoes]

uhh i might be a little bit late finding your problem but i have went through the same problem back in 2017 and solved it and i think i know what is your problem exactly . your wallet needs some dust cleaning and recovering it on a specific platform with a specific way(the same way i used to recover mine)and you mentioned that you still have the private keys which will make it much more easier ,so if you see this and you still want to recover it, ill be available for you any time lol |

Isn't the problem that OPs brother mined orphan blocks and there's a network of precisely 1 computer that recognizes his mined rewards, falling to 0 when that computer gets synced up to the latest block? Or have I missed something. If you can turn orphan blocks into accepted blocks I think there'd be zero demand for your services because you've destroyed the entire crypto industry. Please share your method, sir.

[twizzy.28]

ayy i can help lol . i had the same issue before so if youre down lmk


so it seems like the guy with the problem is not active here

im willing to give 2btc for whoever is able to connect me to that guy

i have the way to fixing his problem
i bought it from someone in 2017 when i faced the same problem and it worked for me
so maybe i can try to see if it will work or not with him

[apogio]

ayy i can help lol . i had the same issue before so if youre down lmk


so it seems like the guy with the problem is not active here

im willing to give 2btc for whoever is able to connect me to that guy

i have the way to fixing his problem
i bought it from someone in 2017 when i faced the same problem and it worked for me
so maybe i can try to see if it will work or not with him

So you are giving us 2 BTC (~$180,000) in order to "connect" you with the OP.
And, the reason for giving us 2 BTC is because you have found a way to fix the problem, so you can get the "bounty" that OP promised?

Just go and send them a PM.
Your proposal looks like head hunting to me and it's not acceptable in this forum, for whatever reason!
It's against OPs privacy to try to find them, I hope you understand that.

[brainless]

your addresses are not listed in complete addresses list no receive  funds, in mining or transfer
proof

12bp69KNGPv3o5R8q1wbZBqAxtrv3GFS5P
14ST7DPUUuGjLF8Ups8pwaw4axDbZkFgXi
13ebUvauPqSDrcCYRPsDzWCDYaowGqUCo5
12tQPs7eJ8rQG5zkpoMS6pCRSvsh8Ybhse
1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa

https://awebanalysis.com/en/bitcoin-multiple-address-check-balance/

check above addresses at this web just paste and check
last address is belong to 1st address created and minned

for more i will post first 1.0 ver of min inning and wallet, windows based, maybe 32bit
from  2009
you can load your wallet.dat with it, and check whats appear
make sure, first make copies of wallet.dat in different folders, then use one of them
2nd first announcement of blockchain were from Brazil, Brazil university, this software
 directly try to connect only 1 server, listed with *.br, and those server are down, it will not connect,,,,,,,,, for load and verify tx
best way to check by this ver 1.0 is use offline (your pc must disconnect from internet)


https://filetransfer.io/data-package/pK8KV76b#link

bitcoin ver 1.0  windows ver, and other file maybe for linux, check at your end

note
bitcoin-0.1.0.tgz
its window and linux ver inside


Readme.txt

BitCoin v0.01 ALPHA

Copyright (c) 2009 Satoshi Nakamoto
Distributed under the MIT/X11 software license, see the accompanying
file license.txt or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in
the OpenSSL Toolkit (http://www.openssl.org/).  This product includes
cryptographic software written by Eric Young ([email protected]).


Intro
-----
Bitcoin is an electronic cash system that uses a peer-to-peer network to
prevent double-spending.  It's completely decentralized with no server or
central authority.


Operating Systems
-----------------
Windows NT/2000/XP (and probably Vista)

Vista hasn't been tested yet.  All the libraries used are cross-platform, so
there's nothing preventing future Linux and Mac builds.


Setup
-----
Unpack the files into a directory and run bitcoin.exe.

The software automatically finds other nodes to connect to.  You should set
your firewall to forward port 8333 to your computer so you can receive incoming
connections, otherwise the nodes you can connect with will be limited.

To support the network by running a node, select:

  Options->Generate Coins

and keep the program open or minimized.  It runs at idle priority when no other
programs are using the CPU.  Your computer will be solving a very difficult
computational problem that is used to lock in blocks of transactions.  The time
to generate a block varies each time, but may take days or months, depending
on the speed of your computer and the competition on the network.  It's not a
computation that has to start over from the beginning if you stop and restart
it.  A solution might be found at any given moment it's running.  As a reward
for supporting the network, you receive coins when you successfully generate a
block.

[vneos]

I already have the addresses related to the various private keys and blockchain.com tells me they are P2WPKH how do I convert them to P2PKH?

Don't mind the displayed address in Bitcoin Core, it's an issue in the legacy version, the output is actually Pay-to-Pub-Key (P2PK) which has no address format.
I've checked the raw transaction "hex" in your screenshot and the result of decoderawtransaction command shows that the output script is P2PK:

Code:

"vout": [
    {
      "value": 50.00000000,
      "n": 0,
      "scriptPubKey": {
        "asm": "0353534d9d8cdd7255dc4eeac1a2e68004c75520917b775b0655f15cf073703be8 OP_CHECKSIG",
        "desc": "pk(0353534d9d8cdd7255dc4eeac1a2e68004c75520917b775b0655f15cf073703be8)#8plzldln",
        "hex": "210353534d9d8cdd7255dc4eeac1a2e68004c75520917b775b0655f15cf073703be8ac",
        "type": "pubkey"
      }
    }
  ]

Since those are all generated at the same timeframe, it's safe to assume that the others are P2PK as well.

At least you could tell that your brother must have used "generate" toggle option in the old Bitcoin client since it does that by default.
Problem is, he must had been mining a fork probably by being isolated to at least one peer that's also not connected to the rest of the bitcoin nodes who are mining/verifying the early blocks of the blockchain we have now.

done everything, is it normal that importdescriptors doesn't return anything? a true a false something....

You have an intact legacy wallet.dat containing the private keys, you don't need to import your key to a new wallet as pk descriptors.
A non-descriptor's default behavior is to search of outputs spendable by the private key(s) it holds, not by a specific script like a descriptor wallet.
Syncing the wallet using a legacy wallet-compatible version just 'till your transactions' block height should be enough to verify them, no extra steps.
If it verifies, good; if not, then the block where it's a reward of isn't included in the blockchain of every bitcoin node.

How is it possible that the transactions accepted in 2009 now have different hashes and thus are not recognized?

Shouldn't the hash of a block or transition be immutable?

Bitcoin isn't a single entity, it works by consensus.
When it comes to block; it means that all nodes in the network must have the exact copy of the block for it to be part of the Bitcoin blockchain.
You brother's wallet contains "coinbase transactions" (reward) from blocks that only his node knows since it's generated there,
but it's different from all of the other nodes' copy so it's not part of the Bitcoin blockchain.
In other words: it's "accepted" by his node in 2009 but not by the rest of the Bitcoin nodes.

This is really strange. The result of decoderawtransaction is "pk(0353534d9d8cdd7255dc4eeac1a2e68004c75520917b775b0655f15cf073703be8)#8plzldln", which is a compressed public key. How could compressed public keys exist in 2009? As far as I know, compressed public keys only began to be widely used around 2012.

The compressed public key 0353534d9d8cdd7255dc4eeac1a2e68004c75520917b775b0655f15cf073703be8 corresponds to the compressed P2PKH address 12bp69KNGPv3o5R8q1wbZBqAxtrv3GFS5P. The question is, how could compressed P2PKH addresses exist in 2009?

[garlonicon]

The question is, how could compressed P2PKH addresses exist in 2009?

Most likely, this chain is just invalid, or only matches some weird altcoin, with fake timestamps.

More hints for "2012 or later": https://asktom.cf/index.php?topic=5512858.msg64627051#msg64627051

[nc50lc]

Since those are all generated at the same timeframe, it's safe to assume that the others are P2PK as well.

This is really strange. The result of decoderawtransaction is "pk(0353534d9d8cdd7255dc4eeac1a2e68004c75520917b775b0655f15cf073703be8)#8plzldln", which is a compressed public key. How could compressed public keys exist in 2009? As far as I know, compressed public keys only began to be widely used around 2012.

That's a question to OP since his story and data doesn't match.
I merely pointed out that converting it to different script types isn't necessary since the output in the screenshot is P2PK.

The gist is: If someone claimed that they got a wallet from a friend or brother, take it with a grain of salt
But do not directly say it, instead, bait some questions that can lead them to tell lies.
OP in this case, is quite negative on that despite being inconsistent.