Nostr Web Client

Welp, I’m 5 PIN code attempts away from losing my stack of corn.

I set up a cold card last year, and put the xpub into sparrow wallet so I could generate deposit addresses. I used the cold card a bunch testing it out and such, but now a year later I can’t remember the PIN code for the life of me.

I thought I had written down the seed phrase and PIN code, but it seems for some dumb reason I didn’t??? Or I’ve possibly misplaced it.

Now that I think about it, I think I set it up initially thinking “this is just a test, I will reset the device and set it up for real later.”

I guess it was working so smoothly I forgot to reset it and set it up again later? But that means I didn’t write the seed down or the PIN code.

I just went to do some UTXO consolidation and realized all this, I’ve forgotten the pin, and am about to brick the device trying to remember.

RIP to my 2023 stack.

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Discussion

TKay 1y ago

Damn! sorry to hear. but also, WTF!

Beiner 1y ago

If you have the seed try loading the seed to electrum wallet.. its worth a shot

🐢 1y ago

That’s the problem is I don’t seem to have the seed for some dumb reason?

Either I’ve misplaced it and am just that forgetful, or I did something incredibly stupid and didn’t realize it for a long time.

T$ 1y ago

O M G praying for you bro

:P 1y ago

No you didn’t

🐢 1y ago

Dude, I think I did :-(.

Maybe I put the seed to this thing somewhere else is my only thought. I’ve done this same thing once before but found the seed in my mom’s safe, so maybe my wife has it hidden somewhere I’ve forgotten about. Keeping my fingers crossed. 🤞

Gonna like, just stop this UTXO mission right now with 5 attempts left in hopes she has some idea where I stashed things. damn though, I definitely have a poor memory.

Séimí Mac Síomón 1y ago

Brute force it?

🐢 1y ago

It bricks after 13 attempts. Down to my last 5…

Séimí Mac Síomón 1y ago

Oh yh ,durr.

Séimí Mac Síomón 1y ago

nostr:npub1az9xj85cmxv8e9j9y80lvqp97crsqdu2fpu3srwthd99qfu9qsgstam8y8 Use your backdoor master key to help this man out of a tough spot.

:P 1y ago

Lmao 🤣 should have went with a ledger 😆 lol

Deleted Account 1y ago

AUSTIN!!! Stop 🛑 FULL STOP NOW!!!!

Beiner 1y ago

Omg dammm hope you remember the pin

Wayne 1y ago

do you know what your 2 words are? would you recognize? maybe you split a well known pin into 2 parts.

🐢 1y ago

None of these words coming up I’m recognizing unfortunately.

Wayne 1y ago

you know what im saying about a pin being split in half? if a pin you regularly use is 6543 then maybe try just 65. i think the prefix can be as few as 2 numbers. good luck to you

🐢 1y ago

Yah I understand, I haven’t been trying 2 numbers as the prefix, I’ll start trying those and see if I recognize any of the words that pop up. At least I seem to get infinite attempts as long as I back out when I don’t recognize the words

🐢 1y ago

Ugh can be as long as 6 though too. I thought it was just 4 ugh

Wayne 1y ago

yeah up to 12 total. if you can try the prefix infinitely i would definitely exploit that and hopefully something looks familiar.

₿eth 1y ago

No no nooooo!

Justin 1y ago

I lost all mine this year too. 😢

#m=image%2Fjpeg&dim=864x488&blurhash=i6EM%2Cw%25M00u5MJQ%2CfAxBx%5D5tNys%3B%24Mx%5BtRS%24f%2BnO00x%5D%7EWMJyDx%5DRPNHM%7B%5EO%24%25Y6I%3DDiVsrrrqXmx%5DIVIU%252iwNGu4%25MwJ&x=c466452ddfbb0cd1227c93d777ad15b8082ce060f9d06e79ccfd040f9a71cc19

Séimí Mac Síomón 1y ago

It's like watching an injured animal , this is tragic.

🐢 1y ago

Each time it counts down the stench of fear grows.

Séimí Mac Síomón 1y ago

Goodness, I'm fearful myself just reading about it.

a source familiar with the matter 1y ago

Gold fixes this

Joe Santamaria, MD 1y ago

Ahh I’m sorry man! I’m so paranoid about wanting seeds in metal ASAP but could see your situation as well. Gotta be a # of some significance to you, keep sleeping on it, wishing you the best!

Deleted Account 1y ago

The reason I say to stop is because if you’re that far in then wait until you speak with your wife as she may have it. If not, it’s possible you may think of it after sleeping.

Guy Swann 1y ago

1. Stop. Deep breaths

2. Write down every single PIN you have tried. Right now.

3. Make a backup of that list.

4. Step away and don’t mess with it for a few days or weeks.

5. Continue looking everywhere you can think of for where you might have written down that seed. You may be remembering wrong. Keep that possibility open. Organize everything in a room if you need to. You’ll probably find something else anyway.

6. Think about what that fucking PIN code was a little bit every single day. Think about every single detail you can about what you were doing, wearing, where you were, etc. Pull every scrap you can together. Memories are triggered in weird ways sometimes.

7. Write down any other codes you think it might be when they come to mind. Make sure it makes it to your backup list.

8. Contact anyone who has any experience trying to physical hardware hack a Coldcard. See if there is any way possible to give yourself some extra space on the PIN.

9. Good luck.

In the future:

No matter what you do with ANY wallet. When you set it up, go through your entire seed and backup process. Literally every time. It really isn’t that long, it’s good practice to formalize it, and you will never regret it after the fact no matter what happens.

I’ve lost bitcoin this exact way. So I know what this feels like. Sorry dude, but it’s not over either. 🫡

🐢 1y ago

Thanks Guy!

MrMik 1y ago

How many attempts do you get in total?

RealJohnDoe 1y ago

You deserve to lose your money..🧡😊

Mysth 1y ago

Try to recall the 2 words the Coldcard shows you after the first part of your PIN.

You still have eight tries left to not fuck it up, and if you can get the first part right, you should be able to recall the rest.

Just write down all PINs you tried, and just try to input first parts until both words showing up ring a bell before going further and using another attempt.

frphank 1y ago

Yay blockchain.

https://www.9news.com.au/technology/us-man-has-just-2-password-attempts-left-or-will-lose-300-million-bitcoin-fortune/fa9c5c1b-23bc-4107-a6f1-a3e288747027

frphank 1y ago

The other day I realised I had forgotten the PIN to one of my debit cards.

So I went to the local bank branch and they just issued me a new one.

#yayfiat

MCBitcoin 1y ago

A hard lesson. Hope you figure it out.

Stirling Forge 1y ago

I did this in 2019 with 20,000,000 sats. I have stopped recommending cold cards since. SeedSigner multisig fixes this