<p>If you lose the private key for some address that contains bitcoins, then you will never be able to spend those bitcoins. The private key is required in order to spend, and there is no known way to work backwards to discover the private key for an account. </p>

<p>If the private key is lost, the bitcoins become un-spendable. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-28T19:00:25.433Z
2018-02-28T19:00:25.433Z
chytrik
<p>Bitcoins are unspendable without the private key (as chytrik already stated). That being said, several wallets implement <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BIP_0032" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BIP032</a> which allows you to recover those private keys. It uses a "seed" (usually shown as several words) to initialize the wallet. Then the creation of the private keys is <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Deterministic_wallet" rel="nofollow noreferrer">deterministic</a>.
With this seed you would be able to "recover" your private key and therefore the unspent BTC.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-28T19:35:10.863Z
2018-02-28T19:35:10.863Z
DIDoS
<p>How to retrieve unclaimed BTC for wallets whose private key is lost
Kindly share details</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-28T18:32:55.050Z
You need a private key to send the coins away. If you don't have the private key, you can't send the coins.
hardfork
<bitcoin-core><private-key><wallet-recovery>
How to retrieve unclaimed BTC for wallets whose private key is lost
Sandeep Gupta
# How to retrieve unclaimed BTC for wallets whose private key is lost

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-02-28)

How to retrieve unclaimed BTC for wallets whose private key is lost
Kindly share details

**Tags:** bitcoin-core, private-key, wallet-recovery

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You need a private key to send the coins away. If you don't have the private key, you can't send the coins.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-02-28. Score: 2

If you lose the private key for some address that contains bitcoins, then you will never be able to spend those bitcoins. The private key is required in order to spend, and there is no known way to work backwards to discover the private key for an account.

If the private key is lost, the bitcoins become un-spendable.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2018-02-28. Score: 1

Bitcoins are unspendable without the private key (as username_2 already stated). That being said, several wallets implement [BIP032](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BIP_0032) which allows you to recover those private keys. It uses a "seed" (usually shown as several words) to initialize the wallet. Then the creation of the private keys is [deterministic](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Deterministic_wallet).
With this seed you would be able to "recover" your private key and therefore the unspent BTC.


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