How to export your private keys from blockchain.info and move the balance to any address using electrum
The Problem
Blockchain.info is a popular online bitcoin wallet provider. It’s name often confuses new bitcoiners into believing that blockchain.info is the blockchain ledger. As an online wallet service provider the company must keep a database of their customer’s wallet identifiers and hashed passwords along with wallet balances. Recently blockchain.info went down for maintenance for about 14 hours on October 26th.
Also Read: Why is my Bitcoin transaction not confirming?
Due to the recent DDOS attempts on the bitcoin network it seems that the wallet balances in the database might have fallen out of sync with the actual wallet balances on the bitcoin network. As a result users are getting the following errors when trying to send bitcoins from their wallets:
Non-canonical signature: High S Value
An outpoint is already spent in [xxxxxxxxxx]
Prev out is already spent DBOutput
Blockchain.info has issued the following statement in regards to their ongoing wallet issues:
We are aware that users are experiencing some or all of the following issues:
Wallets displaying improper balances
The inability to send funds
“Maximum concurrent requests” errors
Expired authorization emails
Other errors related to these issuesWe want to let you know that we’re working on these issues, but have no estimate as to when they will be resolved. We’re deeply sorry for any inconvenience this may be causing you, and thank you for your patience with this matter.
The Solution
Thankfully, blockchain.info allows you to export your private keys. Using electrum – a lightweight wallet – you can sweep the private keys from your blockchain.info wallet and get the correct balances on your electrum wallet and successfully remove your bitcoins from the blockchain.info service. Here is how to get the private keys from your blockchain wallet:
- login to your blockchain.info wallet
- navigate to the import/export tab
- Then click I understand when the Advanced Warning dialog box comes up
- Select the Export Unencrypted tab
- From the dropdown menu select the Bitcoin-Qt Format for your private keys
In the above pictures the private keys are highlighted in red and their corresponding addresses which are on the same line are highlighted in green. We are going to copy those private keys (highlighted in red) and sweep them free of coins using our electrum client. If you haven’t already, download and install the electrum wallet from electrum.org
After setting up your electrum wallet navigate to Wallet -> Private Keys -> Sweep
You will be greeted with a window which will let you copy your private keys. Copy the private keys from blockchain.info and paste them one at a time on a new line like so:
NOTE: The mouse cursor may turn into a stop sign when hovering or trying to highlight the private key. Simply ignore that and treat it like a regular mouse cursor, it is simply a protection against cyber attackers.
IMPORTANT: The address highlighted in red is the address where all the coins will be sent to, make sure it is an address which is in YOUR control.
Lastly, on the Transaction dialog confirm one last time that the address highlighted in green is in fact the address that you want the coins sent to. If all checks out click broadcast and you should receive a confirmation and any coins that were left on those addresses on in your blockchain wallet are now on your wallet of choice.
Conclusion
If you are having issues spending bitcoins from your blockchain wallet, the balance on your wallet page keeps acting up or showing negative, or you can’t spend bitcoins from a certain address sweeping the private keys to a fresh wallet is a sure way to fix any database related issues that blockchain.info may be experiencing.
We have not confirmed what the exact cause of the recent maintenance was, but we reached out to blockchain.info for a response. We hope this article helped you if you were having issues with your wallet.
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Hey! Wondering if you can help me with something. I made a bitcoin payment donation to Elastic. Now, to redeem my Elastic coins, I need to sign the address on Blockchain. However, for some reason, Blockchain is showing that address as ‘watch only’. I can’t use it to sign. I need the private key for that address which I don’t have because Blockchain no longer displays paper wallets or QR code for the key. I have no idea what to do? Any idea how I can redeem without signing or find my private key on Blockchain. Any advice would be much appreciated.
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