<blockquote>
  <p><strong>Why does bitcoin not have live support</strong></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Because bitcoin is not a business or any sort of organisation. It is not controlled by anyone, it is controlled by you and thousands of people like you. Bitcoin is essentially no more than a definition and the people who run software that implement the definition. The person who wrote the original definition is no longer involved.</p>

<p>There are anciliary (some might say parasitic or predatory) businesses that offer bitcoin services. E.g. holding your wallet for you or providing for the exchange of currencies. But these businesses do not control Bitcoin. These businesses are not strictly a necessary part of Bitcoin.</p>

<p>There are mining consortia who exert considerable influence over the integrity and operation of the bitcoin blockchain, but you don't have any direct relationship with those people or businesses, they don't work for you or depend on you individually and have no need to communicate with you as a person, they could gain nothing by helping you. </p>

<p>In short - Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer system. There is no Bitcoin.  </p>

<p>You might as well ask why the English language has no live support. Who would run it? Why would they run it? Why would you trust them?</p>

<p>If your wallet software was purchased - the business that sold you the wallet might offer you live support. Most wallet software is given away free with no support other than "community support" and the opportunity to report bugs to a system used by the developers (who are often just volunteers)</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><strong>who has access to remotely upgrade my wallets</strong></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Since the wallets are just software running on your computer, anyone who has access to your computer can upgrade the software on it. They may need to obtain your computer account credentials or obtain administrator access - but this is easy if they have physical access to the computer. </p>

<p>If the computer is connected to a network and has remote-control software installed on it then these actions can be done remotely. If the computer's operating system or any installed applications have un-patched security flaws then these can often be exploited remotely to obtain control over the software.</p>

<p>In short, never keep significant amounts of money in a wallet in a computer that is connected to a network. Never give anyone else access to the computer containing your wallet. Never share your private keys, login credentials or any other sensitive information.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><strong>and then deny me access to the contents</strong></p>
</blockquote>

<p>You mention the wallets "were recently restored". Your choice of words suggests that you may have had help or someone else did this for you.</p>

<p>Such a person would have been able to "restore" the wallets in a way that denied you the ability to spend the contents. For example by setting up "watch-only" addresses and by copying the private keys or keeping them to themselves. </p>

<hr>

<p>If I had 50 bitcoin ($320,644 at todays exchange rate) I would not trust anyone to help me with it. I would particularly not trust anyone I hadn't know personally for at least five years pretty closely. That's a decent annual wage - I would be prepared to spend <strong>a year working full-time</strong> to work out how to recover it myself and, if successful, I would consider that years's effort well-spent.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-23T09:52:49.887Z
2018-08-23T10:26:56.367Z
2018-08-23T10:26:56.367Z
RedGrittyBrick
<p>I have at least to wallets never spent from that were recently restored 1 has 50 bitcoin the other I believe at least a thousand started in 2009 my question is who has access to remotely upgrade my wallets and then deny me access to the contents </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-23T04:21:28.117Z
No one has access to remotely update wallets or revoke your access. If you are using an actual, non-scam wallet, you will have your private keys locally on your machine. As long as you have those keys, no one can deny you access to your coins
Raghav Sood
<bitcoin-core-development>
Why does bitcoin not have live support
William Caruso
# Why does bitcoin not have live support

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-08-23)

I have at least to wallets never spent from that were recently restored 1 has 50 bitcoin the other I believe at least a thousand started in 2009 my question is who has access to remotely upgrade my wallets and then deny me access to the contents

**Tags:** bitcoin-core-development

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: No one has access to remotely update wallets or revoke your access. If you are using an actual, non-scam wallet, you will have your private keys locally on your machine. As long as you have those keys, no one can deny you access to your coins  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-08-23. Score: 3

> **Why does bitcoin not have live support**

Because bitcoin is not a business or any sort of organisation. It is not controlled by anyone, it is controlled by you and thousands of people like you. Bitcoin is essentially no more than a definition and the people who run software that implement the definition. The person who wrote the original definition is no longer involved.

There are anciliary (some might say parasitic or predatory) businesses that offer bitcoin services. E.g. holding your wallet for you or providing for the exchange of currencies. But these businesses do not control Bitcoin. These businesses are not strictly a necessary part of Bitcoin.

There are mining consortia who exert considerable influence over the integrity and operation of the bitcoin blockchain, but you don't have any direct relationship with those people or businesses, they don't work for you or depend on you individually and have no need to communicate with you as a person, they could gain nothing by helping you.

In short - Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer system. There is no Bitcoin.

You might as well ask why the English language has no live support. Who would run it? Why would they run it? Why would you trust them?

If your wallet software was purchased - the business that sold you the wallet might offer you live support. Most wallet software is given away free with no support other than "community support" and the opportunity to report bugs to a system used by the developers (who are often just volunteers)

> **who has access to remotely upgrade my wallets**

Since the wallets are just software running on your computer, anyone who has access to your computer can upgrade the software on it. They may need to obtain your computer account credentials or obtain administrator access - but this is easy if they have physical access to the computer.

If the computer is connected to a network and has remote-control software installed on it then these actions can be done remotely. If the computer's operating system or any installed applications have un-patched security flaws then these can often be exploited remotely to obtain control over the software.

In short, never keep significant amounts of money in a wallet in a computer that is connected to a network. Never give anyone else access to the computer containing your wallet. Never share your private keys, login credentials or any other sensitive information.

> **and then deny me access to the contents**

You mention the wallets "were recently restored". Your choice of words suggests that you may have had help or someone else did this for you.

Such a person would have been able to "restore" the wallets in a way that denied you the ability to spend the contents. For example by setting up "watch-only" addresses and by copying the private keys or keeping them to themselves.

---

If I had 50 bitcoin ($320,644 at todays exchange rate) I would not trust anyone to help me with it. I would particularly not trust anyone I hadn't know personally for at least five years pretty closely. That's a decent annual wage - I would be prepared to spend **a year working full-time** to work out how to recover it myself and, if successful, I would consider that years's effort well-spent.


---

