Sometimes, people get in touch with me because they have bought Bitcoins a long time ago – like in the early 2010s –, when its price was much lower than it is today. Now that their coins are worth a lot more, they would like to sell them, but here’s the issue: they are not sure where the coins are stored. They still own the computer on which they made their purchase, but they can’t even tell what wallet software they used back in the days to store their Bitcoins. It just has been so long!
In such a case, they ask, is there a way to scan their computer for Bitcoins? The answer is yes!
How to search for Bitcoins, the manual way
One popular approach to track down lost Bitcoins is to search your computer for the presence of certain files or folders related to the wallet software you have used. A Google search will let you know which files or folders you should be on the lookout for.
If you don’t know which wallet software you have used, you will have to search for files and folders from popular wallet software during the time that you bought your Bitcoins. A decade ago, Multibit Classic and Multibit HD were among those software. Thus, if you were to look for wallets from these software on a Windows computer, you would verify if you have one of the following folders:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\MultiBitC:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\MultiBitHDC:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\MultiBitC:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\MultiBitHD
Alternatively, you could determine if there’s a Multibit Classic or Multibit HD wallet on your computer by searching
for the presence of a .key, a .wallet or a .wallet.aes file. On Windows, this can be done through the File Explorer.
Why the manual way is not the best way
While the manual approach works, it has many drawbacks.
-
It’s tedious as you need to scour your computer for obscure files and folders. It gets worse if you can’t remember any information about your Bitcoins, such as which wallet software you have used to store them.
-
It’s error-prone. Bitcoin wallet files may very well be stored on your computer, but it doesn’t mean that you will be able to find each and everyone of them.
-
It fails if you took measures to hide your wallet to protect your Bitcoins. For instance, you may have moved or renamed your wallet files. If that’s the case, good luck finding them the manual way!
-
You cannot easily verify many computers at once. In other words, it doesn’t scale.
The better way: say hello to Treasure Hunter
This is why I created the software Treasure Hunter, which allows people to scan their computer for the presence of Bitcoin wallets. It can detect many types of wallets even if they were renamed or moved elsewhere in an attempt to hide them.
Instead of manually shifting through tons of files and folders on your computer, you simply select a drive or a folder to scan and then click on a button. Treasure Hunter will do the heavy work for you. It can even scan removable storage devices such as USB keys!
If you want to scan your computer for lost Bitcoin wallets, I highly suggest you give Treasure Hunter a go! It is available on Windows, Mac and Linux. It is also free to use, and its source code is available on GitHub for review.