Block.io used to offer a multi-sig wallet solution with an API. They have since wound down their service, which left many people hanging with their coins unaccessible. It used to support Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Litecoin. The API allowed developers to interact with these cryptocurrencies and perform operations such as sending and receiving transactions, checking balances, and generating new addresses.
Recovering block.io coins – it’s my mission, with precision
(a catchy headline that I made up)
There are a few things that are a bit fishy though. A friend contacted me, that they cancelled his account due to breach of terms of service (which turned out not to be the case). Also funny – you pay for it using fiat. Now the most fishy thing is they just discontinued the service, without answering customer support e-mails with many people losing access to their coins.
Let’s recover the coins. You go ahead and just import the keys to Electrum, Sparrow Wallet or any other wallet, right? Not really. It is a multisig wallet that has one static private key and one xpub. You cannot really import such a scheme in Electrum nor Sparrow. Also, if you happen to use supported altcoins, you are out of luck too.
They provide a code to sweep the wallets, but it is out of date, uses non-existant APIs (that are since paid, yes, you guessed it – with fiat).
Can the coins be recovered?
If you have the original recovery document they sent you when you were creating your account (it should be in a PDF), then I can recover the coins and send them to your address.
Please note that you need both the recovery mnemonic (12 english words) and secondary private key (usually in WIF format).
Here is an example of what you are looking for:
A recovery phrase is 12 English words, such as: true royal apart antenna text cricket congress genre shoot present broken tattoo
This is how the secondary private key looks like:
5J3mBbZjegRCvhaTg5MC2FBH9BE9TGffqxFQRHSJnSLB5GgFjsx
It can also start with a K or L instead of 5.
Block.io allowed you to download it, both in a form of a PDF file with all this information. Now they give you access through their platform for emergency recovery (you need to e-mail them to get access, see below). You will get something like this (example, in bold is information I need to recover):
* Network: DOGE
* BIP32 Public Key: <DATA>
* BIP32 Private Key: <DATA>
* BIP32 Derivation Path: m/i/0
* Second Public Key: <DATA>
* Second Private Key: <DATA>
* Redeem Script Format: 2 BIP32_public_key_for_node_i <DATA> 2 OP_CHECKMULTISIG
* Test Redeem Script (i=0): 2 <DATA>
<DATA> 2 OP_CHECKMULTISIG
* P2SH/P2WSH-over-P2SH/P2WSH Address (i=0): <DATA>
If you don’t have these two pieces of information, I unfortunately cannot help you, since block.io is 2-of-2 multisignature, meaning you need both keys to sign the transaction. In that case, write to support@block.io, requesting access to your backup, as soon as possible.
I don’t need your block.io username, password, PIN or anything else, just the recovery seed / first private key mnemonic and secondary private key.
Contact me for recovery
If you find yourself in a situation when you need to save your funds from a deactivated block.io wallet and have the private keys above, contact me. Please do not send any private keys in the first message, we will first agree on the best way to do it. If you don’t have both keys, especially the secondary private key (“secret pin” or “secret passphrase” is not enough), I unfortunately can’t help you. This form is encrypted by HTTPS.
If you just googled this page, check out my homepage and my products and services and search/ask around to learn about my reputation. Do not ever send private keys to strangers you found throught the internet without more digging. To verify that this webpage is legit, check cryptographic proofs on keybase that connect my website to my social identities. You can also find my PGP encryption keys on keybase.