How to access my XRP

[XRPquery]

I played with Ripple around 2013, back when we had to use Ripple Trade.  I remember I won a small amount of Ripple in a contest at the time.  I left my XRP largely unused for a few years until I got an email saying there was a transition going on.  I've since deleted all that email correspondence and I forgot all the details, but I do remember being asked to create a GateHub account.  Shortly after I did that, I remember having cashed out most of my XRP via Mr. Ripple.  After cashing out, I closed both my GateHub and Mr. Ripple accounts.  I still have a small amount of XRP though. My question is, how do I access that XRP now?  I closed my GateHub account, but is my XRP really locked to a single organization like GateHub?  If so, what happens if GateHub ceases to exist?  I still have a record of my Ripple Public Address, and old Ripple Trade logins, but that's about it.  Thanks.

[at3n]

Where is the xrp now? Still in the same account that was linked to gatehub? 

[XRPquery]

I cannot answer your question because I do not know the answer.  Indeed, I am basically asking that very question in my opening post! 

If this XRP is really mine, why do I need GateHub?  And like I asked before, what happens if GateHub vanishes?  Seems all very weird to me that the world's XRP is locked to GateHub exclusively.  What if I want to access my XRP outside GateHub?

I know how much XRP I still have left because I can copy/paste my Ripple Public Address into XRP Charts and it tells me all the transaction history plus my current balance.

So I look forward to hearing a reply to questions put forth in my opening post.

Thank you.

[at3n]

The XRP is yours if you know the secret key (begins with s...)

15 hours ago, XRPquery said:

I cannot answer your question because I do not know the answer.  Indeed, I am basically asking that very question in my opening post! 

Well, you said you had it in Gatehub, and then you closed the Gatehub account. Was there still a balance of XRP in that account when you closed it? If so, then it's still in the same account (presuming you didn't subsequently move it).

15 hours ago, XRPquery said:

I know how much XRP I still have left because I can copy/paste my Ripple Public Address into XRP Charts and it tells me all the transaction history plus my current balance.

When you moved your XRP to Gatehub, either you gave Gatehub the secret key (tied to the public address) of an existing account, or else Gatehub generated one for you. Gatehub stores the secret key and uses it to perform transactions on your XRP account.

If you did not have some other record of your secret key when you closed your Gatehub account, then it's unlikely that you can recover it, I doubt that Gatehub still knows it (I would hope that they deleted it shortly after you closed your account).

15 hours ago, XRPquery said:

If this XRP is really mine, why do I need GateHub?

You don't, if you know the secret key. If you don't know the secret key, the XRP is not really yours.

On 6/24/2020 at 2:38 AM, XRPquery said:

My question is, how do I access that XRP now?

You'd need to find your secret key, and use it with any XRP wallet software (of which Gatehub is one). Or, perhaps you have some recovery information that Gatehub may have provided you when you set up your Gatehub account, and you could see if you can use Gatehub to recover that.

On 6/24/2020 at 2:38 AM, XRPquery said:

is my XRP really locked to a single organization like GateHub?

Only if Gatehub holds the only copy of the secret key. If you caused that to be deleted by deleting your Gatehub account, then it's not locked to Gatehub anymore.

On 6/24/2020 at 2:38 AM, XRPquery said:

 If so, what happens if GateHub ceases to exist?

You probably lose the secret key, hence you lose access to the XRP.

 

The takeaway is that Gatehub did not really store your XRP, it was only an interface to the XRP Ledger (then called Ripple Consensus Ledger), performing transactions on your behalf. The vital piece of information is the secret key, which was always your responsibility, and which you chose to share with Gatehub, and then deleted, from what I can gather.

[XRPquery]

Thank you for your detailed reply.

Retrieving one's Secret Key used to be easy from this Ripple Website (which is not only able to be viewed on Archive.org).  Folks who used to get their key that way are now out of luck, which is terribly unfortunate.  After much digging through backups though, I found the the following 3 pieces of info created back in 2013:

• Ripple Public Address
• Secret Account Key
• Wallet Key

I also see that back in 2013, I used the following URL to gain access, but now even that is blocked from Archive.org:

"https://ripple.com/client/#/balance"

Could you please explain further about "XRP Wallet Software"?  You make it sound like an app I can download for use on my Mac, but if that was true, you would not have said "of which Gatehub is one."  As you know, Gatehub isn't a standalone software app but rather a company that offers a service and just happens to use software as an interface.  Are you basically saying that to gain access to my XRP, I am forced to sign up for a service like GateHub, which means I must reveal my personal information to that company, leaving my personal info open to privacy issues?

 

[at3n]

1 hour ago, XRPquery said:

Could you please explain further about "XRP Wallet Software"? You make it sound like an app I can download for use on my Mac, but if that was true, you would not have said "of which Gatehub is one."

I was using "software" loosely, to mean any software that implements XRP wallet functionality, be it running on your computer or online. My point was that there's nothing special about Gatehub, its wallet functionality can be replaced by others.

1 hour ago, XRPquery said:

Are you basically saying that to gain access to my XRP, I am forced to sign up for a service like GateHub,

No, you can also use a software wallet, hardware wallet or paper wallet. A traditional software wallet would be installed on your computer and store your secret key encrypted on your hard drive. I would have recommended Toast Wallet, but it has been very recently discontinued. I'm not familiar with other XRP software wallets available for Mac, but you could check out https://github.com/BobWay/ripple-client-desktop/releases/tag/1.4.0-rc2-2.

Hardware wallets store the secret key on a physical chip and you connect it to a computer to use, e.g. Ledger Nano. But be aware that you generally can't import existing keys into these, they create new accounts each time.

A paper wallet just means storing your secret key on paper to keep it offline. Then every time that you want to transact, you must enter the secret key into some software, ideally running on a computer disconnected from the internet. The software creates and signs a transaction, which you then move to an online computer and submit it to the online version of the software. Bithomp and ripplerm are examples that are built to be used as an offline/online combination. theworldexchange is another that can only be used online. All of them only process your transaction locally and don't save or transmit the secret key anywhere else.

As you're using a Mac, be aware that some versions of some online wallets had a bug when used with Safari, which would cause them to generate keys incorrectly. As a result, it's often recommended not to use Safari with any of the online wallets, just in case.

Edited June 26, 2020 by at3n