<p>Unfortunately, there is no way to do any such thing. Your only option is to manually inform any business partners that the address has fallen out of use.</p>

<p>As the only way to proof indubitably that you were the owner of said address would be to sign a message with the respective private key, I don't see how anyone could justifiably shut down an address.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-24T20:23:58.300Z
sadly unlike PGP there is no separate revocation key, though one could sign the "I've lost the key" message in advance and put it someplace safe...
Tobias Kienzler
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-24T21:20:04.583Z
That's right. But then you could just as well put a backup of the private-key someplace safe. ;)
Murch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-25T08:54:01.627Z
True - though you could give the signed revocation to someone else who would then still be able to refute any claim of theft, and you wouldn't need to trust them _too_ much
Tobias Kienzler
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-25T08:54:42.543Z
Right, I hadn't thought about that.
Murch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-24T18:58:12.830Z
2014-01-24T18:58:12.830Z
Murch
<p>Given e.g. one lost the private key to a specific bitcoin address, is there any way to make sure no more bitcoins can be transferred to it since it effectively became a bitcoin-furnace?</p>

<address><private-key>
Is there any way to "revoke" a bitcoin address?
Tobias Kienzler
# Is there any way to "revoke" a bitcoin address?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-01-24)

Given e.g. one lost the private key to a specific bitcoin address, is there any way to make sure no more bitcoins can be transferred to it since it effectively became a bitcoin-furnace?

**Tags:** address, private-key


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-01-24. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

Unfortunately, there is no way to do any such thing. Your only option is to manually inform any business partners that the address has fallen out of use.

As the only way to proof indubitably that you were the owner of said address would be to sign a message with the respective private key, I don't see how anyone could justifiably shut down an address.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: sadly unlike PGP there is no separate revocation key, though one could sign the "I've lost the key" message in advance and put it someplace safe...  
> **username_1**: That's right. But then you could just as well put a backup of the private-key someplace safe. ;)  
> **username_0**: True - though you could give the signed revocation to someone else who would then still be able to refute any claim of theft, and you wouldn't need to trust them _too_ much  
> **username_1**: Right, I hadn't thought about that.  

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