How do I crypto (again)?
February 23, 2024 12:05 PM Subscribe
Sorry if this question is convoluted or confusing... I am very confused myself as it's been several years since I even touched crypto and the fact that everything feels foreign to me already is part of the reason why I want to sell them and never touch it again.
So several years ago, I purchased a small amount of bitcoin and ethereum, moved them to cold storage, and then just sat back and waited (HODL) while taking a mild interest in the tech. So I learned about hard forks and halving and then right when staking came along, life got really busy and I essentially lost all interest in keeping up with it... until now, where I've been hearing a little about crypto again and realized I had actually forgotten I even owned any coins. They aren't worth a fortune or anything but still enough that I am interested in selling them so I can purchase other goods and services.
So the situation is this: I have the coins in a cold wallet. I know my seed words. I believe the private key is attached to the wallet, unbeknownst to me. 1) How do I check the balance of the wallet contents to make sure the coins are even still there and 2) How do I transfer the coins onto Coinbase WITHOUT using the cold wallet device? From some cursory research, this device is no longer trustworthy and customer support seems to be nonexistent so I prefer to just not deal with it.
And I... think that's it. Sorry if I've used the wrong terminology or anything. And of course, I am attempting to do these two things without being hacked or scammed along the way, which crypto is notorious for.
So several years ago, I purchased a small amount of bitcoin and ethereum, moved them to cold storage, and then just sat back and waited (HODL) while taking a mild interest in the tech. So I learned about hard forks and halving and then right when staking came along, life got really busy and I essentially lost all interest in keeping up with it... until now, where I've been hearing a little about crypto again and realized I had actually forgotten I even owned any coins. They aren't worth a fortune or anything but still enough that I am interested in selling them so I can purchase other goods and services.
So the situation is this: I have the coins in a cold wallet. I know my seed words. I believe the private key is attached to the wallet, unbeknownst to me. 1) How do I check the balance of the wallet contents to make sure the coins are even still there and 2) How do I transfer the coins onto Coinbase WITHOUT using the cold wallet device? From some cursory research, this device is no longer trustworthy and customer support seems to be nonexistent so I prefer to just not deal with it.
And I... think that's it. Sorry if I've used the wrong terminology or anything. And of course, I am attempting to do these two things without being hacked or scammed along the way, which crypto is notorious for.
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There is a widely-used standard for seed phrases, which is shared across different hardware and software wallets. Assuming your seed is in this standard format, you can enter it into any software wallet app, or any hardware wallet device, and that app/device will then have access to all of your keys/addresses/accounts/coins/etc.
If your goal is to transfer everything to Coinbase and sell it, I would install the Coinbase Wallet app. Open the app and click on “I already have a wallet.” Enter your 12-word seed phrase. You should now be able to see the contents of your wallet.
Then create a Coinbase account or log into an existing account, and follow Coinbase’s directions to send coins from your wallet to your Coinbase account.
posted by mbrubeck at 4:43 PM on February 23 [5 favorites]