<blockquote>
<p><strong>How do I check the amount of coins are in a crypto wallet?</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bitcoin is not really stored in wallets. The only important data in a Bitcoin wallet is a large random-looking number called a private key that is kept secret and which is used to provide mathematical proof of the right to spend some amount of money.</p>
<p>Amounts are kept track of in a public journal of transactions called the blockchain. Everyone makes their own copy of this transaction journal by exchanging information from it and verifying exchanged information themselves. Verification removes the need for trust.</p>
<p>Some wallet software doesn't keep its own copy of the full journal of transactions - These &quot;lightweight&quot; wallets use Simplified Payment Verification (SPV) and have to trust other wallets to some extent.</p>
<p>Some people don't want to look after their own money and give all their money to some business they trust completely. These businesses own the money on behalf of their customers and do all the keeping track of money for them. Many such businesses fail and their customers then don't get their money back. These types of account are sometimes called &quot;custodial wallets&quot; but they are really accounts with a business and not the Bitcoin wallets envisaged by the inventor of Bitcoin. The inventor of Bitcoin wanted to do away with such businesses.</p>
<p>To work out the amount of money controlled by the private keys in your wallet, you read the transaction journal from the beginning to the end. This allows you to keep track of all Bitcoin money without needing to trust anyone. To avoid reading the whole transaction journal again and again, you make and maintain a separate list of unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) that you can think of as coins.</p>
<p>To count the number of confirmations of a transaction you count the number of blocks in the transaction journal since that transaction.</p>
<p>These actions are what Bitcoin wallet software does for you.</p>
<p>Outside your wallet you need to make regular backups and keep a separate copy of your secret &quot;private key&quot; numbers somewhere safe. Alternatively some wallets give you a recovery phrase (seed phrase) which is a set of words which can be used to re-create the secret numbers. This should be kept somewhere safe in case your computer or device is lost, stolen or broken.</p>
<hr />
<p>To check the amounts programatically without using your wallet, you'd need to write a program to do every essential thing the wallet does.</p>
<p>One way to programatically and independently check amounts would be to install some different wallet software on a different device and import your Bitcoin addresses as &quot;watch-only&quot; addresses. This other wallet would calculate amounts controlled by the secret numbers from which those Bitcoin addresses were calculated. This other wallet could not be used to spend money.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-30T09:45:52.107Z
2021-07-30T10:12:09.843Z
2021-07-30T10:12:09.843Z
RedGrittyBrick
<p>How do I check the amount of coins are in a crypto wallet? And how do I check the confirmations?</p>
<p>Is this process different for each cryptocurrency?</p>
<p>I'd like to check these without having to rely on a third party service.</p>
<p>Edit: Am using a nodejs api</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-29T23:24:23.023Z
You'd use wallet software to manage these things. The procedures depend on what software you're using. There are some recommendations here: https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-29T23:25:52.550Z
@PieterWuille thanks for the info. so I'd need to use a wallet library or something for this?
Trevor
<confirmations>
How to check coins & confirmations amount programmtically without third party site
Trevor
# How to check coins & confirmations amount programmtically without third party site

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-07-29)

How do I check the amount of coins are in a crypto wallet? And how do I check the confirmations?

Is this process different for each cryptocurrency?

I'd like to check these without having to rely on a third party service.

Edit: Am using a nodejs api

**Tags:** confirmations

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You'd use wallet software to manage these things. The procedures depend on what software you're using. There are some recommendations here: https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet  
> **username_0**: @username_1 thanks for the info. so I'd need to use a wallet library or something for this?  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-07-30. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

> **How do I check the amount of coins are in a crypto wallet?**

Bitcoin is not really stored in wallets. The only important data in a Bitcoin wallet is a large random-looking number called a private key that is kept secret and which is used to provide mathematical proof of the right to spend some amount of money.

Amounts are kept track of in a public journal of transactions called the blockchain. Everyone makes their own copy of this transaction journal by exchanging information from it and verifying exchanged information themselves. Verification removes the need for trust.

Some wallet software doesn't keep its own copy of the full journal of transactions - These "lightweight" wallets use Simplified Payment Verification (SPV) and have to trust other wallets to some extent.

Some people don't want to look after their own money and give all their money to some business they trust completely. These businesses own the money on behalf of their customers and do all the keeping track of money for them. Many such businesses fail and their customers then don't get their money back. These types of account are sometimes called "custodial wallets" but they are really accounts with a business and not the Bitcoin wallets envisaged by the inventor of Bitcoin. The inventor of Bitcoin wanted to do away with such businesses.

To work out the amount of money controlled by the private keys in your wallet, you read the transaction journal from the beginning to the end. This allows you to keep track of all Bitcoin money without needing to trust anyone. To avoid reading the whole transaction journal again and again, you make and maintain a separate list of unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) that you can think of as coins.

To count the number of confirmations of a transaction you count the number of blocks in the transaction journal since that transaction.

These actions are what Bitcoin wallet software does for you.

Outside your wallet you need to make regular backups and keep a separate copy of your secret "private key" numbers somewhere safe. Alternatively some wallets give you a recovery phrase (seed phrase) which is a set of words which can be used to re-create the secret numbers. This should be kept somewhere safe in case your computer or device is lost, stolen or broken.

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To check the amounts programatically without using your wallet, you'd need to write a program to do every essential thing the wallet does.

One way to programatically and independently check amounts would be to install some different wallet software on a different device and import your Bitcoin addresses as "watch-only" addresses. This other wallet would calculate amounts controlled by the secret numbers from which those Bitcoin addresses were calculated. This other wallet could not be used to spend money.


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