The basic requirement
Password recovery starts with encrypted wallet data that still contains the keys. The password is the lock; the encrypted wallet is what remains behind that lock. Distribrute needs both a supported wallet artifact and a realistic password search.
A case normally needs all three of these conditions:
- The original encrypted wallet or a reliable backup still exists.
- The problem is a forgotten encryption password, not missing key material.
- The wallet format is supported by a Distribrute safe-test-piece and verification path.
If one is missing, additional password testing may not solve the problem.
Missing seed or private key
A seed phrase, mnemonic, or raw private key is not an encrypted wallet password. It is the secret from which spending authority comes. If that secret is missing and no wallet containing the same keys survives, there is no central copy for Distribrute to retrieve or reconstruct.
Distribrute does not currently search for:
- a completely or partly missing seed phrase;
- a forgotten BIP39 passphrase protecting a known seed phrase;
- missing characters from a raw private key or paper wallet;
- any other candidate whose discovery directly reveals spendable key material.
This is also a security-boundary issue. A correct wallet password is safe to test on an operator machine only because that machine never receives the wallet it unlocks. A correct seed or private key is itself sufficient to derive or spend funds. Giving operators enough information to recognize it would remove the separation on which the current system relies.
No surviving wallet file
A remembered address, transaction history, wallet name, or balance is not a replacement for the
wallet’s private-key data. If a Bitcoin Core wallet.dat, compatible Blockchain.com backup, and all
other copies are gone, finding the old password would have nothing to decrypt.
Storage or forensic specialists may sometimes recover deleted file data from a device. That is a different service and should happen before password recovery. If the recovered file is intact enough, Distribrute can then assess it normally.
Hardware wallets and account logins
These situations do not provide the encrypted wallet artifact used by the distributed recovery path:
| Situation | Why it is outside this service |
|---|---|
| Hardware-wallet PIN recovery | The PIN is enforced by the device and its secure hardware, not by a supported wallet file |
| Lost hardware wallet and missing recovery phrase | The key material is gone unless another backup exists |
| Exchange or custodial-platform login | The provider, not the customer, controls the wallet keys; account recovery belongs with that provider |
| Two-factor authentication or email access | These are account-access problems rather than wallet-encryption passwords |
Owning cryptocurrency through a website does not necessarily mean the customer possesses a wallet file that Distribrute can test.
Watch-only and incomplete wallets
A watch-only wallet or extended public key can show addresses and balances but does not contain the private keys needed to sign. Unlocking it cannot create keys that were never present.
The same principle applies to:
- a multisignature wallet missing one or more required cosigner keys;
- a backup that contains public descriptors but no private key material;
- a truncated or corrupted wallet whose critical encrypted-key records are gone.
Recovering the password to one surviving multisignature signer may still be useful, but it cannot reconstruct other missing cosigners. Minor file damage is reviewed case by case; missing key records cannot be recreated by guessing the password.
Unsupported wallet formats
The current distributed path supports compatible encrypted backups from:
- Bitcoin Core;
- Blockchain.com and historical Blockchain.info wallets.
Other encrypted formats—including browser-extension wallets, most mobile wallets, Electrum, and other desktop or altcoin wallets—are unsupported today. This does not necessarily mean recovery is cryptographically impossible. It means Distribrute has not implemented and reviewed a safe test piece, operator tool, and authoritative verification path for that format.
Never convert or import the only copy of a wallet merely to make it appear supported. Preserve the original bytes and let Distribrute identify the format first.
A supported wallet can still fail
Even with a readable, supported encrypted wallet, the search can fail when:
- the correct password is absent from every tested candidate space;
- the remembered clues describe the password incorrectly;
- the password is long and randomly generated, making the necessary search impractical;
- the available compute or agreed search scope is insufficient.
This is different from missing key material. The wallet may still be valid, but no finite search can test every possible password. Distribrute uses the owner’s password history to construct targeted wordlist and mask searches rather than promising an unlimited brute-force search.
How cases are classified
| Classification | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Supported now | Compatible encrypted Bitcoin Core or Blockchain.com wallet with a plausible password search |
| Unsupported today | Encrypted wallet exists, but Distribrute has no reviewed engine for its format |
| Missing required material | No surviving source contains enough private-key or required cosigner data to authorize spending |
| Search exhausted | The wallet is compatible, but the tested candidate spaces did not contain the password |
If you are unsure which category applies, preserve every original backup and submit only the basic case details through the public form. Do not place a seed phrase or private key in the contact form.
For supported formats, continue to Bitcoin Core, Blockchain.com, or the end-to-end recovery flow.