Hello, I have a technical issue i'd really appreciate your help with. I've scoured the internet and forums to find a similar situation but I can't find one. I've tried my best to explain the situation as clearly as possible below but apologies in advance if i seem confused or an idiot......I am both!

I created a blockchain.info account/wallet in 2013 to which I sent a small amount of bitcoin. I received the bitcoin into to my wallet by making a bank transfer to the corresponding bitcoin address. I still have the confirmation email and can see the amount on the blockchain, which hasn't moved since I originally sent it. I can't remember if I had a blockchain.info wallet or an account as I didn't really understand the process at the time (and still barely do).

I recently retrieved my login details for blockchain.info and logged back into my blockchain account (now blockchain.com).

There is a zero bitcoin balance displayed under both the 'Account' and 'Defi Wallet' tabs. However, when i go to 'Settings' -> 'Wallets and Addresses' -> 'Imported Bitcoin addresses' there is my Bitcoin address and BTC balance displayed. Great so far!

Directly to the right of my displayed BTC balance i can then select Actions -> Manage -> Private Key. After clicking through the warning about not sharing my private key with anyone this brings up a box with QR code, Balance, Address (which matches my original confirmation email for the transfer and the address with the positive BTC balance), Private Key (WIF) and Private Key (Base-58). However, the balance on this box says 0 BTC even though the address directly below it (and on the 'Imported Bitcoin addresses' screen) has a positive BTC balance on it.

The address with the bitcoin balance is a legacy bitcoin address that starts with 1. The address definitely has a positive BTC on it. The corresponding WIF private key is 52 characters and starts with L.

So now i was slightly worried about getting access to my BTC because it was so long ago and i don't really understand the process. I tried to explain the situation to blockchain.com support but they either send generic responses or take forever to respond and don't seem to understand the situation....probably partly my fault as i don't really understand myself!

My next step after hours and hours of research was to try to sweep the private keys to an Exodus wallet. So i downloaded the android version and imported my private key from blockchain.com but it also says there is no BTC at the address corresponding to the private key. I tried both the WIF private key and the QR code.

I am now even more worried. I contacted Exodus support and they were responsive at least but once they realised it was an issue with my private keys from blockchain.com (and blockchain.com wasn't bothering to respond) they also stopped responding.

So that has lead me to this bitcoin forum and the hope that someone here understands and can help explain the situation.....and if i have any hope of retrieving my bitcoin? I am currently making my way through the five stages of grief and am somewhere between bargaining and depression.

I still have the wallet backup email from blockchain.info that says it includes all the information i need to restore my bitcoin balance, with a wallet.aes.json file attached. I have seen in some forums that there is a way to import this to restore the wallet. However, i'm not sure this will help because the wallet ID in the email matches the wallet ID of my blockchain.com account....so it seems like the wallet has already been imported? I have also read that legacy wallets were imported as Bitcoin addresses to blockchain.com when it changed from blockchain.info?

Is it possible for a private key to somehow not match the corresponding bitcoin address when blockchain.info moved across to blockchain.com?

I'd really appreciate if someone could help me or explain what has happened? Or any avenues i could explore?

This has been a real roller coaster of emotions from the joy of remembering my account details and seeing my bitcoin balance to the heartbreak of not having access to it. It is not a life changing amount but I am not a rich person and it would really appreciate any help someone can give.

I don't want to sell the bitcoin but I would like to have access to it to move it to a safe wallet. On blockchain.com it says 'Imported funds are not protected by your Recovery Phrase. To ensure these funds are secured, please transfer them directly into your wallet.' But i can't move it because the private key doesn't seem to match the corresponding address.

If you got this far thanks for reading and please let me know if you have any ideas what is going on. Even if it is to tell me i'm a confused idiot!

Cheers