This guide is intended for users of Bitcoin-Qt who do not want to wait for their wallet to be synchronized with the network, which may take many hours or days depending on the hardware spec. The guide teaches users how to transfer their coins to Electrum bitcoin wallet, which has lower security but a faster startup time.
It's a somewhat common situation that users don't open their wallet for months or years, after which they come back to find it will take them hours to have be able to use Bitcoin Core. Another example is where the block files on hard disk have become corrupted requiring parts of the blockchain to be downloaded and verified again.
See: How to import private keys v7+ If you are using Cold storage, a Paper wallet or generating vanity addresses you may have a need to import a Private key. Since Bitcoin-QT/bitcoind v0.6.0, you can import private keys using built-in RPC command importprivkey. Litecoin's binary distributables (the program that you can download and run) come in two flavours; one is a graphical interface, generally seen as litecoin-qt, or just litecoin, and the other is a 'headless' version called litecoind which only uses the command line. They are completely compatible with each other.
Litecoin is a cryptocurrency that enables instant payments to anyone in the world and that can be efficiently mined with consumer-grade hardware. Litecoin - Open source P2P digital currency Toggle navigation litecoin. All Bitcoin private keys and addresses. There is a whole range of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold private keys iterated from the beginning to the end. We automatically check previous transactions for each address. If you see logo button - you got somebody wallet! Jan 11, 2014 Find the private key to your Litecoin QT client public Litecoin address. Litecoin-QT wallet Private Key access tutorial. Client dumpprivkey walletpassphrase Dash Infonode. Generate Private.
WARNING
Before reading this page, users should note that directly manipulating ECDSA private keys is dangerous and can result in losing bitcoins[1][2]. This guide is for the impatient or time-stressed, it is recommended that users of Bitcoin Core simply wait out the blockchain synchronization. There are many benefits to running a Full node including trustlessness, security and privacy which lightweight wallets cannot match.
Obtain new Electrum wallet
Download Electrum and verify the signature to prove it was not modified in transit. Create a new Standard Wallet and choose 'Create a new seed'. Electrum will give you a seed phrase which you should write down on paper.
Obtain private key(s) from Bitcoin-Qt
In Bitcoin-Qt click Window -> Console.
If your wallet is encrypted, use this command to decrypt it for 5 minutes (300 seconds):
Use the dumpprivkey command to get the private key. Repeat for as many bitcoin addresses as have money in them.
Do not send this private key to anybody else, they could use it to steal your bitcoins(!)
Sweep private keys with Electrum![]()
In the Electrum window, click Wallet -> Private Keys -> Sweep. Paste the private keys from Bitcoin-Qt here. Check the resulting transaction is okay and click Broadcast to sweep from the addresses in Bitcoin Core to the Electrum wallet.
If the address generated from the private key is wrong, then on the Sweep Private keys dialog box in Electrum click the Info box in the upper-right. It will give instructions for prefixing your private key so that the correct address is generated. For example if your address starts with 3 then use
p2wpkh-p2sh:[your-private-key] .
Warning: Make sure the Electrum wallet is not a watch-only wallet. The Electrum window title bar should not say [watching-only]. Go back to #Obtain new Electrum wallet if so.
Once broadcast, the transaction will be relayed to every node in the bitcoin network and should soon be visible as unconfirmed in Electrum's window. It is likely to soon be mined into a block giving it confirmations that make it irreversible.
Related Documents
References
Retrieved from 'https://en.bitcoin.it/w/index.php?title=Transferring_coins_from_Bitcoin-Qt_to_Electrum&oldid=67067'
WARNING
Before reading this page, users should note that messing with ECDSA private keys is very dangerous and can result in losing bitcoins, even long after the import.It is recommended that outside of self-generated vanity addresses, users should never import (or export) private keys.[1][2]
As of August 2012, possibly the easiest way to import a private key is using Blockchain.info's My Wallet service. When successully imported through the 'Import/Export' screen, the bitcoins assigned to a private key can be immediately sent to any Bitcoin address. It is extremely risky and not recommended to use Blockchain.info or any online third-party service to import private keys, because they can steal your BitCoins if they have the keys. It's best to import them using bitcoind as described below.
As of August 2013, BIPS allows for easy import of private key using Paper Wallet - Import. User can choose to type in the private key manually or scan a QR code containing the private key using the camera. The user must wait 6 confirmations for access to the funds, and system is based on batch importation. It is extremely risky and not recommended to use BIPS or any online third-party service to import private keys, because they can steal your BitCoins if they have the keys. It's best to import them using bitcoind as described below.
Public Private Key Encryption
Steps described are with the following settings:
Partial spend from cold storage
Use this function if you would like to keep some funds on the paper wallet.
After spending, the private key in memory is destroyed so the paper private key remains somewhat secure. Despite this, best practice is to immediately send the remaining balance to a paper wallet that was generated offline.
Import key from a paper wallet
Use this function if you would like to import a private key so all funds are immediately available for spending.
After importing this paper private key, you might consider destroying the original so it cannot be found and your funds stolen. Alternatively, you can keep it safe to be used as an offline backup.
If you have Version 7 or later it is now trival. See: How to import private keys v7+
If you are using Cold storage, a Paper wallet or generating vanity addresses you may have a need to import a Private key. Since Bitcoin-QT/bitcoind v0.6.0, you can import private keys using built-in RPC command importprivkey. Before v0.6.0, you needed to rely on third-party wallet.dat manipulation tool such as Pywallet.
This article describes how to import a private key through the RPC API of bitcoind, which is a topic for advanced users.
Note that importing a key to bitcoind and/or Bitcoin-Qt may be dangerous and is not recommended unless you understand the full details of how it works
Start Bitcoin client
Unlike third-party wallet.dat manipulation tools such as Pywallet, you do not have to close the Bitcoin client before proceeding. Instead, you need to start the bitcoind server.
Bitcoin-QT does not enable its RPC interface by default. To enable it:
Unlock your wallet
If you have an encrypted wallet (recommended), you need to unlock it temporarily before importing private keys. The RPC command for unlocking an encrypted wallet is walletpassphrase <passphrase> <timeout>. Typing this directly in a bash terminal will leave your wallet passphrase directly in the bash history but there are a couple of techniques you can use to avoid this. Simply add a space before the command:
Another alternative is to use a bash variable:
Import Private key(s)
The last command unlocked your wallet temporarily for 120 seconds, during which time you must import your private keys. Since private keys can be as important as your passphrase, you may want to use the same techniques as above to prevent their being recorded in bash history (bash variable or space before the command):
The importing process is now started. Bitcoind will rescan the entire block data to ensure this key has not been used before. This process will take from one to two minutes, depending on your CPU performance. DO NOT abort it before finishing!
To avoid rescanning run the following.
If no errors occurs, the import is a success and Bitcoin-QT users will be able to see the new address in the GUI immediately. If you need to import more keys, just repeat the instructions above. There is currently no command to import a batch of private keys so you will need to wait a minute or two for each key to be imported.
Bitcoin Qt Client DownloadCleaning up
This will lock your wallet again (so you don't have to wait for timeout)
These commands will clear the passphrase and private key from memory if you used the read technique. If you started bitcoind, you will need to stop it before Bitcoin-QT will start again:
Deleting Keys
At some point, you may wish to delete private keys from a wallet.dat file but as of version v0.6.0 of Bitcoin-QT/bitcoind, there is no RPC method available for this purpose.
Bitcoin Qt DownloadReferences
Retrieved from 'https://en.bitcoin.it/w/index.php?title=How_to_import_private_keys&oldid=66672'
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