<p>Unfortunately, this is not possible, unless Bitpay allows you to import individual private keys, which, AFAIK, they don't.</p>

<p>Almost no wallets use the same wallet file format. They are generally incompatible from wallet to wallet and there is no standard (nor should there be). A wallet file is only good for the same software the made it.</p>

<p>Electrum's seed phrase is also incompatible with all other wallets as it uses a different algorithm to generate and decode the phrase. They do this since the standard way (BIP 39) is much less secure as it was primarily designed for hardware wallets.</p>

<p>Lastly, why would you move away from using Electrum? Electrum is, IMO, far better than any other SPV wallet out there, and especially better than the ones created by services like BitPay which rely on BitPay operating special servers in order for it to function.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-26T00:55:39.183Z
Agree, electrum is great. Online wallets are vulnerable to being cracked; using a personal wallet gives you full control of security and you own and control the critical private keys.
venzen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-24T06:02:19.673Z
2017-06-24T06:02:19.673Z
Ava Chow
<p>Extremely new to Bitcoin but I'm looking to spend some of my balance on Amazon gift cards but I can't figure out why I can't import an electrum wallet backup into bitpay using file or phrase.  Tells me the file can't be decrypted or that the phrase is invalid.  Is this possible or is there a way around it?  TIA</p>

<electrum><bitpay>
Importing Electrum backup into Bitpay?
TonZaga
# Importing Electrum backup into Bitpay?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-06-24)

Extremely new to Bitcoin but I'm looking to spend some of my balance on Amazon gift cards but I can't figure out why I can't import an electrum wallet backup into bitpay using file or phrase. Tells me the file can't be decrypted or that the phrase is invalid. Is this possible or is there a way around it? TIA

**Tags:** electrum, bitpay


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-06-24. Score: 1

Unfortunately, this is not possible, unless Bitpay allows you to import individual private keys, which, AFAIK, they don't.

Almost no wallets use the same wallet file format. They are generally incompatible from wallet to wallet and there is no standard (nor should there be). A wallet file is only good for the same software the made it.

Electrum's seed phrase is also incompatible with all other wallets as it uses a different algorithm to generate and decode the phrase. They do this since the standard way (BIP 39) is much less secure as it was primarily designed for hardware wallets.

Lastly, why would you move away from using Electrum? Electrum is, IMO, far better than any other SPV wallet out there, and especially better than the ones created by services like BitPay which rely on BitPay operating special servers in order for it to function.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Agree, electrum is great. Online wallets are vulnerable to being cracked; using a personal wallet gives you full control of security and you own and control the critical private keys.  

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