Blockchain.com, which was for a long time known as Blockchain.info, is one of the oldest and most popular web-based cryptocurrency wallets. Many early Bitcoin adopters used this wallet to store their coins.
While it is a web wallet, the service allowed users to download backup files. If you used Blockchain.info years ago, you might have one of these backup files saved on your computer but have forgotten where you stored it. If you want to find that file to access your crypto, you have two options: you can search for the wallet file manually or automatically.
The manual way
The manual approach involves searching your computer for your wallet backup file. Unlike with many wallet software, Blockchain.com wallet files do not have a default folder or specific location; they can be located anywhere on your computer or storage devices.
Your best option is to use your operating system’s search function to look for files that end with wallet.aes.json.
The contents of this file vary depending on the wallet version. They are too many variations to list them all, but as an example, it can look like this:
1{
2 "pbkdf2_iterations": 5000,
3 "version": 2,
4 "payload": "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"
5}
Or it can look like this:
1{
2 "guid": "9bb4c672-563e-4806-9012-a3e8f86a0eca",
3 "sharedKey": "728e769e-4c26-4301-a0b8-2db25c564c5a",
4 "double_encryption": true,
5 "dpasswordhash": "2de3fba5e1bce771e7425686b30970a70b6a5cac1aff5acbc9e1b3bca365f47a",
6 "options": {
7 "pbkdf2_iterations": 10000,
8 "fee_policy": 0,
9 "html5_notifications": false,
10 "logout_time": 600000,
11 "tx_display": 0,
12 "always_keep_local_backup": false,
13 "transactions_per_page": 30,
14 "additional_seeds": []
15 },
16 "keys": [
17 {
18 "addr": "1BUoAfr3N6RcH3JArntzoFGfk9hrgU4i5a",
19 "priv": "3BxRTG45Rf1v4V0zJLb1SdUULBIlAPPvTzo2lkMHbusI0MdaMO+wspiT7ZSorervEHq722+liMEu5azs6DUvsQ==",
20 "created_time": 0,
21 "created_device_name": "javascript_web",
22 "created_device_version": "1.0",
23 "priv_decrypted": "8V3qAkjVPsWgWASdvyXSSvkZ9A3obdEzwfMpavJ8MD5A",
24 "privkey_compressed": "KzwrWpHpu5zyZXDDsV4MWkDhobhji46kk2YYpWr4vwDxYLHa3NXs",
25 "privkey_uncompressed": "5JfFqtx1tDv1aef7YNmG52BaiNTSzLHFttZ53A2bsjeNeXKKkUc"
26 }
27 ]
28}
In some cases, the file may be entirely encrypted and its contents made up of random characters.
It is worth noting that in the early days, Blockchain.info would email these wallet.aes.json files to users.
It might be worthwhile to check your old mailboxes for such an email.
In any case, you can see that this manual process can be difficult and time-consuming.
The automatic way
The manual method described above has several significant drawbacks. It is very time-consuming, as you have to search your entire computer or storage devices. It is also error-prone, and you may fail to find your wallet file. Furthermore, this method will likely fail if you took steps to hide your wallet file, for instance by renaming it or moving it somewhere obscure.
This is precisely why I created the software Treasure Hunter. It automates the entire search process and is much more effective than the manual way. Treasure Hunter is designed to detect wallet files even if attempts have been made to hide them.
It works on a wide variety of storage devices, including HDDs, SSDs, USB keys, SD cards, CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs. Treasure Hunter works on Mac, Windows, and Linux. You can scan your storage devices for free. All you have to do is press a few buttons while the software does the heavy lifting!