Seriously lost trying to recover XRP from 2013

[bowler99]

I want to start by saying I want to avoid the intrusive gatehub if possible, I am in a foreign country and proving residence is task that involves translators for most English verification KYC processes. It is a last resort for me. I bought XRP in 2013 and stored my backups like this ; 

I have in keepass, on paper, and in a text file several backups like so : 

XRP address, balance is still there. A username, a password. This is not in the form of the secret key, it is a standard keepass generated password.

I also have a 'ripple-wallet.txt' file, with a VERY long, strong password. It has well over 200 characters. Lastly I have a string that may be a secret key, it has my fake-password to start, the next characters after is 's' and it looks like a secret key format may be in there, but I do not know the length. 

 

The ripple desktop wallet asks for a wallet file, which I do not have, I do not believe there were any at the time I bought them. Just accounts and passwords or brain wallet type logins IIRC. 

I have spent a long time trying to find answers on how to recover the funds, but the best I found was a github 'minimalistic' client, which was very confusing and I could not get it to work. How does one go about recovering the funds?

Edited May 7, 2017 by bowler99

[rootvegetable]

Try to "create a new account" with a secret key. Try using the string that begins with an 's'. If that string isn't your secret key I'm not sure what can be done. Good luck.

[The Knight of Ahhrrgg]

20 minutes ago, rootvegetable said:

Try to "create a new account" with a secret key. Try using the string that begins with an 's'. If that string isn't your secret key I'm not sure what can be done. Good luck.

First of all, should it not be your secret  key - I bet you can say goodbye to your balance.

Secondly, if the translation costs are currently too large for you to properly identify yourself at Gatehub, my take would be: is fo, then the value of your XRP ccount can't be that really large. Then either wait for XRP to shoot to the moon (and pay some translation costs at such a point in time as you would be happy to pay some costs then), or XRP won't shoot to the moon - and you'll just have to write it off.

 

[Eik]

In the jatchili's minimalistic ripple wallet (download it on your computer first), you can first try if this 's' string is actually your secret key. On the HTML page, fill in  the secret key and hit 'set identity'. Does your ripple account (starting with 'r') pop up? Then you found your secret key.

If that doesn't work, I guess you should try to consider the .txt file as your wallet file and unlock it with the password. The wallet file contains your secret key once decrypted using your password.

[Professor Hantzen]

The length of the secret key should be 29 characters including the "s".  Copy and paste that into the minimalist ripple client (at the top-most box), and click "Set identity".  if it comes up with your public ripple address at that point, you can relax - you *will* be able to regain control of your funds.

At that point you need to either figure out how to use the minimalist client, or download one of the many much easier-to-use wallets in the Links section on this website, they are mostly based on the original Ripple code - eg there is one called the xrpchat wallet.  The problem you'll have is that to get your XRP into any other form, you'll need to go through an exchange which will ask for KYC, much like Gatehub.  I'm not sure if there are any other options available.

If you can't at least recover your secret, contact support@ripple.com - they may be able to help with the username/password.

[Guest]

If you've got the secret key (and nobody else knows it!) then you're still in control. In order to stay in control, you need to experiment using a computer that's not connected to the internet. If the string that you think is your secret key really is a secret key, then the Minimalistic Ripple Client, or Ripplerm's wallet (https://github.com/ripplerm/ripple-wallet) should confirm it for you. Both are capable of deriving your public address (which you mention you still know!) from its corresponding secret. But you really do need to do this on a disconnected computer until you've overcome your confusion. Keep your secret safe and do not type it into anywhere on the internet.

Ripplerm's wallet has worked well for me — I've used it a few times to move XRP out of a cold address without exposing the secret to the internet. Two things about it confused me at first:

1. You need to start off sitting at an internet-connected computer, using just your public address, to generate an unsigned transaction. You then transfer the signed transaction to a disconnected computer to sign it using your secret, and you then take the signed transaction back to your internet-connected computer.
2. Ripplerm's wallet seems to be denominated in drops (one XRP = 1 million drops).

Can you explain what you mean by “recover the funds”? Do you mean “move the funds to some other ripple address”?

[Professor Hantzen]

Look at us all rushing in to help.  I nominate xrpchat for 2017's "nicest cryptocurrency forum".

[namini]

Just for your information, you don't need to send documents to Gatehub if you only plan to trade cryptocurrencies but only if you plan to deposit or withdraw USD or EUR from / to a bank account.

 

I assume you're the same person who posted on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ripple/comments/693ie2/completely_lost_how_to_recover_xrp_bought_in_2013/

 

 

 

 

[bowler99]

3 hours ago, Professor Hantzen said:

The length of the secret key should be 29 characters including the "s".  Copy and paste that into the minimalist ripple client (at the top-most box), and click "Set identity".  if it comes up with your public ripple address at that point, you can relax - you *will* be able to regain control of your funds.

At that point you need to either figure out how to use the minimalist client, or download one of the many much easier-to-use wallets in the Links section on this website, they are mostly based on the original Ripple code - eg there is one called the xrpchat wallet.  The problem you'll have is that to get your XRP into any other form, you'll need to go through an exchange which will ask for KYC, much like Gatehub.  I'm not sure if there are any other options available.

If you can't at least recover your secret, contact support@ripple.com - they may be able to help with the username/password.

unfortunately it is just saying 'its not a valid secret key', The wallet .txt I have is a very long string, but its not encrypted. I will try to ask them, but I am doubtful. It seems the old backup methods were neglected and I am left to eat the losses, this is the only wallet I am having difficulty recovering of the many cryptos I have put into.

[namini]

What happen when you try to open your wallet.txt with Ripple desktop?

 

Also if you have a login / password did you try here (old v1 client before rippletrade):

https://id.ripple.com/auth/migrate

or to create a new account on Gatehub and migrate (rippletrade migration):

https://gatehub.net/

https://ripple.com/files/rt_migration_faq.pdf

Edited May 4, 2017 by namini

[bowler99]

13 hours ago, namini said:

What happen when you try to open your wallet.txt with Ripple desktop?

 

Also if you have a login / password did you try here (old v1 client before rippletrade):

https://id.ripple.com/auth/migrate

or to create a new account on Gatehub and migrate (rippletrade migration):

https://gatehub.net/

https://ripple.com/files/rt_migration_faq.pdf

thanks for helping. I am getting the error 'Login failed: Wallet file or password is wrong. Is a standard ripple-wallet.txt that I can view in plain text a correct format? It is a nonsense string but its not looking like it would be a wallet. This appears more like a backed up brainwallet, password, or private key to me. Its just Xdjf3!fMcZfmnei938fa type password for a couple hundred characters in length. 

 

I tried in the ip.ripplecom client but it was not working, the support said they do not support recovery for the old username/passwords, so those backups are worthless apparently. 

I am not sure what else to try, but is there a way to look up ripple address balances? I have tried googling with no luck, but remember using it before to verify my balance. 

Gatehub will not let me connect anything until I provide english only recent proof of residence which is will require seeing a lawyer which I am not willing to do unless it will be a last option.

Edited May 5, 2017 by bowler99

[Eik]

40 minutes ago, bowler99 said:

[...]
I am not sure what else to try, but is there a way to look up ripple address balances? I have tried googling with no luck, but remember using it before to verify my balance.
[...]

https://bithomp.com/explorer/
https://charts.ripple.com/#/graph

 

[Eik]

@JoelKatz any idea?

[namini]

Quote

Is a standard ripple-wallet.txt that I can view in plain text a correct format?

Yes but I only have letters (lower case & upper case) and numbers in mine (except for a "=") no special characters.

Of course you can look your balance address with your public address starting with a r...
https://charts.ripple.com/#/graph

But not sure you have it, looks like you did not backup the right things.

You can also create an account with Gatehub and try the migration option:

Wallet -> Add wallet -> Ripple Trade

But it would work only if you had an account with Ripple Trade.

[bowler99]

8 minutes ago, namini said:

Yes but I only have letters (lower case & upper case) and numbers in mine (except for a "=") no special characters.

Of course you can look your balance address with your public address starting with a r...
https://charts.ripple.com/#/graph

But not sure you have it, looks like you did not backup the right things.

You can also create an account with Gatehub and try the migration option:

Wallet -> Add wallet -> Ripple Trade

But it would work only if you had an account with Ripple Trade.

ah my ripple wallet.txt also has no special characters, but ends in a "=" as well. That must be correct then! what would be the easiest way without gatehub (cannot register without major hassle) to restore a ripple-wallet.txt ? 

thanks so much