<p>If you have no record of the private key stored the funds are lost forever, or more correctly you just can never spend them again. As you never had the private key stored on a hard drive, there's not anything you can do to recover it. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-10T07:44:25.873Z
Not even through my cache?
user10457
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-10T08:12:58.623Z
If you dumped your RAM the second you realised, maybe. Now? Not a chance.
Anonymous
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-09T07:54:01.410Z
2013-12-09T07:54:01.410Z
Anonymous
<ol>
<li><p>If you 0 currency in the CoinBase wallet you can forget that one and make a new wallet.</p></li>
<li><p>CoinBase is an exchange... money in cryptocurrency out. Each time You use CoinBase it automatically generates a new wallet for that Transaction.</p></li>
<li><p>When you login, CoinBase takes you directly to your accounts... you never really see your keys. They're automated behind the scene. So you are automatically connected to your public address (key). You can generate a new wallet somewhere else... if you have any currency in your CoinBase account you can send it to your new Wallet...  the one you now have both public and private keys for.</p></li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-02T01:32:02.500Z
2017-09-02T01:32:02.500Z
Dano
<p>I am a complete newbie. I transferred money to my coin base paper wallet before printing my private key. Now, I see my btc in wallet but could not retrieve my key by going back on my browser...Are they gone?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-09T05:56:58.053Z
If you don't have your private key its probably gone. check your cache though. It might be in there. How much did you lose? A public key will not be able to be resolved to a private key. For something like that you want a brain wallet which is deterministic.
Joe White
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-09T06:59:03.137Z
Thanks Joe, I have 4.5 btc, I have the public key, the wallet, but not the private key, I can't find it in my cache, but maybe a forensic search? I did copy/paste the private key improperly, so there is a record...somewhere...
user10457
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-09T10:34:04.253Z
You say you "copy/pasted it improperly". Where did you paste it?
us2012
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-09T12:11:19.993Z
Can you describe, in as much detail as possible, how you generated the "paper wallet"?
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-10T06:33:44.287Z
I generated the wallet via coin base. I copied and pasted the private key first, and it was rejected. Then I copied and pasted the public key and it worked...i transferred the btc...When i went back on my browser to retrieve the private key, the page was gone...just like that...Can't I recover via my web history???
user10457
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-31T18:10:29.280Z
It's way late but in that case only hope would maybe, maybe a big if you contacted the server which generated the private key, perhaps if you gave them the pyblic/address they could have sessions cached for what ever reason, probably not though everything is amazon now.
marshal craft
<wallet>
lost private key...never had it
user10457
# lost private key...never had it

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-12-09)

I am a complete newbie. I transferred money to my coin base paper wallet before printing my private key. Now, I see my btc in wallet but could not retrieve my key by going back on my browser...Are they gone?

**Tags:** wallet

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: If you don't have your private key its probably gone. check your cache though. It might be in there. How much did you lose? A public key will not be able to be resolved to a private key. For something like that you want a brain wallet which is deterministic.  
> **username_0**: Thanks Joe, I have 4.5 btc, I have the public key, the wallet, but not the private key, I can't find it in my cache, but maybe a forensic search? I did copy/paste the private key improperly, so there is a record...somewhere...  
> **username_2**: You say you "copy/pasted it improperly". Where did you paste it?  
> **username_3**: Can you describe, in as much detail as possible, how you generated the "paper wallet"?  
> **username_0**: I generated the wallet via coin base. I copied and pasted the private key first, and it was rejected. Then I copied and pasted the public key and it worked...i transferred the btc...When i went back on my browser to retrieve the private key, the page was gone...just like that...Can't I recover via my web history???  
> **username_4**: It's way late but in that case only hope would maybe, maybe a big if you contacted the server which generated the private key, perhaps if you gave them the pyblic/address they could have sessions cached for what ever reason, probably not though everything is amazon now.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2013-12-09. Score: 2

If you have no record of the private key stored the funds are lost forever, or more correctly you just can never spend them again. As you never had the private key stored on a hard drive, there's not anything you can do to recover it.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Not even through my cache?  
> **username_5**: If you dumped your RAM the second you realised, maybe. Now? Not a chance.  

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### Answer by username_6 on 2017-09-02. Score: -1

1. If you 0 currency in the CoinBase wallet you can forget that one and make a new wallet.
2. CoinBase is an exchange... money in cryptocurrency out. Each time You use CoinBase it automatically generates a new wallet for that Transaction.
3. When you login, CoinBase takes you directly to your accounts... you never really see your keys. They're automated behind the scene. So you are automatically connected to your public address (key). You can generate a new wallet somewhere else... if you have any currency in your CoinBase account you can send it to your new Wallet... the one you now have both public and private keys for.


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