What if ....
Someone was a bit nonchalant and did not back up his/her coins, but ... But he/she remembers his/her private key. Is there a way to 'restore' these 'lost' coins? IOW, is there a way to match private key and a specific address in the block-chain?
If you know the private key, then you can access the coins:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Private_keyJust as if you wrote the key down or printed it.
Thanks for this answer. The info reads:
The private key is mathematically related to the Bitcoin address, and is designed so that the Bitcoin address can be calculated from the private key, but importantly, the same cannot be done in reverse.
That's great. But, just to be sure, assume that I lost my wallet; completely, no back up. And all I do remember is my private key, can I restore (or recreate) the same wallet including all the coins?
Hey,
If you go to bitaddress.org and click on "wallet details" and then enter your private key, it will give you the public address. The problem is that most people can't remember their private key, but if you can do so, that is enough.
For example, this private key:
5JntzqqXVhR8SBRvFWQhrtv3UXRqovnnfaij4FFT5nCAswFoqkx
Generates this address:
14MR8Li8Fna4d43PfY2f2XRp6GAbPM5swJ
You can go there, hit single wallet, copy the private key and then hit wallet details and see if it regenerates the address you just created.
You want to be safe doing that though - off-line, incognito window at minimum, quit when done, restart, if you have any significant numbers of bitcoins there. Bitaddress.org is reputable, however it is best to be safe and those are the minimum steps I'd take.
:-)