<p>Welcome to the StackExchange. You're probably going to hate this answer, but there's really nothing you can do to find those bitcoins using personal information like your e-mail, SSN, DOB, etc.</p>
<p>Bitcoin addresses are generated randomly (usually by whatever app you were using). These addresses are generated using nothing other than pure math and have nothing to do with your personal details or characteristics.</p>
<p>Short of finding that phone or the device you used to generate that address you used to receive Bitcoin, it is likely impossible for you to recover this information. Even if you were able to figure out or remember your address, you'd need the <strong>private key</strong> to that address in order to &quot;spend&quot; those funds (I'm assuming once you found the wallet, you'd want to send the funds somewhere so you could sell the $BTC and cash out).</p>
<h3>Words of Consolation</h3>
<p>This is your first post on StackExchange and it seems you're not a frequent user of Bitcoin, so its likely you've already searched everywhere, read and tried everything you could before signing up to ask directly.</p>
<p>You said you received these bitcoins a few years ago, so their worth may have been negligible to you back then. Of course, now, they're worth $60k+. So even if you found just one, that would likely be like hitting the lottery in a way.</p>
<p>With all that being said, its likely those funds are gone. Initially, that's going to hurt - but <strong>don't beat yourself up about it</strong>. When Bitcoin was at $15k-20k in 2017, there was nothing but countless stories in the media about folks that had received Bitcoin randomly, forgot about it, heard about the meteoric price increase, searching for those funds again, magically finding them and then &quot;hitting it big&quot;.</p>
<p>I'm personally <strong>very skeptical of those stories</strong> and its regretful how much coverage they've gotten because they make it seem as though this is a realistic outcome. In reality, the chances of someone receiving Bitcoin when it had negligible value, then forgetting about it until its appreciated 10-100x in value, yet somehow retaining access to the old devices &amp; software they used to store that Bitcoin in a functional enough condition to actually operate said devices and extract that Bitcoin are <strong>infinitesimally small</strong>, you likely would have had as good of a chance of striking it big playing the mega millions lottery.</p>
<p>These words may not help at all, but its really best to not think of it as you screwing up, misfortune/bad luck, or &quot;losing&quot; anything. There's a non-zero chance that even if you found the wallet, you'd find out that you already spent those funds years ago and simply forgot. <strong>This happened to me once</strong>. I had some Monero some users sent me and I forgot about it for ages. I beat myself up for ages stressing over the location of the wallet, then finally found the information I needed one day.</p>
<p>Lo and behold, there was:</p>
<p>A) Way less than I remembered having (wasn't hacked; seeing the balance total jogged my memory)</p>
<p>B) Because of 'A', it turns out I had way less than I thought</p>
<p>You're not dumb, of course, but there's a chance your mind could be playing tricks on you, making you remember you had 10 bitcoins when maybe it was just 0.0010.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-27T01:39:45.890Z
2021-10-27T01:39:45.890Z
librehash
<p>years and years ago I invested in bitcoins and I also got some free for signing up somewhere and since then I have had a new phone and don’t even have that computer anymore so now I am unsure of how to find my investment. Is there anyway it can be searched using my name any of my old emails name social date of birth? Please help.</p>

<bitcoin-core><blockchain><bitcoind><blockchain.info><client>
Lost Bitcoins Help
Rasha Tatras
# Lost Bitcoins Help

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-10-27)

years and years ago I invested in bitcoins and I also got some free for signing up somewhere and since then I have had a new phone and don’t even have that computer anymore so now I am unsure of how to find my investment. Is there anyway it can be searched using my name any of my old emails name social date of birth? Please help.

**Tags:** bitcoin-core, blockchain, bitcoind, blockchain.info, client


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-10-27. Score: 1

Welcome to the StackExchange. You're probably going to hate this answer, but there's really nothing you can do to find those bitcoins using personal information like your e-mail, SSN, DOB, etc.

Bitcoin addresses are generated randomly (usually by whatever app you were using). These addresses are generated using nothing other than pure math and have nothing to do with your personal details or characteristics.

Short of finding that phone or the device you used to generate that address you used to receive Bitcoin, it is likely impossible for you to recover this information. Even if you were able to figure out or remember your address, you'd need the **private key** to that address in order to "spend" those funds (I'm assuming once you found the wallet, you'd want to send the funds somewhere so you could sell the $BTC and cash out).

### Words of Consolation

This is your first post on StackExchange and it seems you're not a frequent user of Bitcoin, so its likely you've already searched everywhere, read and tried everything you could before signing up to ask directly.

You said you received these bitcoins a few years ago, so their worth may have been negligible to you back then. Of course, now, they're worth $60k+. So even if you found just one, that would likely be like hitting the lottery in a way.

With all that being said, its likely those funds are gone. Initially, that's going to hurt - but **don't beat yourself up about it**. When Bitcoin was at $15k-20k in 2017, there was nothing but countless stories in the media about folks that had received Bitcoin randomly, forgot about it, heard about the meteoric price increase, searching for those funds again, magically finding them and then "hitting it big".

I'm personally **very skeptical of those stories** and its regretful how much coverage they've gotten because they make it seem as though this is a realistic outcome. In reality, the chances of someone receiving Bitcoin when it had negligible value, then forgetting about it until its appreciated 10-100x in value, yet somehow retaining access to the old devices & software they used to store that Bitcoin in a functional enough condition to actually operate said devices and extract that Bitcoin are **infinitesimally small**, you likely would have had as good of a chance of striking it big playing the mega millions lottery.

These words may not help at all, but its really best to not think of it as you screwing up, misfortune/bad luck, or "losing" anything. There's a non-zero chance that even if you found the wallet, you'd find out that you already spent those funds years ago and simply forgot. **This happened to me once**. I had some Monero some users sent me and I forgot about it for ages. I beat myself up for ages stressing over the location of the wallet, then finally found the information I needed one day.

Lo and behold, there was:

A) Way less than I remembered having (wasn't hacked; seeing the balance total jogged my memory)

B) Because of 'A', it turns out I had way less than I thought

You're not dumb, of course, but there's a chance your mind could be playing tricks on you, making you remember you had 10 bitcoins when maybe it was just 0.0010.


---

