<p>Good day and thanks for replying.</p>
<p>In my first message I made an error. It was BTC and not BCH as I wrote. I needed the private key from my the BTC (December 2016 to October 2017) in the Multibit HD wallet to retrieve the BCH (split 1st of August 2017) and the BSV (from the split 15th November 2018), also in the future to claim my BCHABC (another split on the 15th November 2020)</p>
<p>Multibit HD is unfortunately not so easy to handle. It was the successor of Multibit Classic and in Classic it was easy to retrieve the private key, as it is in Bitcoin Core or other similar softwares. Multibit HD not so. There is not any way you can get your private key from within the software.</p>
<p>I have been in contact with the owners of Multibit, Shapeshift/Keepkey. They will not assist as they claim the software is deprecated. My personal feeling is not something I would like to share, but if a company buys another company and then makes it impossible to use the software and thereby making people lose money... Well I ain't buying anything from Shapeshift/Keepkey. Ever.</p>
<p>However after a lot of work and some great assistance I have been able to retrieve the private key from my Multibit HD wallet and then able to claim my BCH and BSV. Will also be able claim the BCH/ABC.</p>
<p>The main credit is to Joseph Dushesne. His &quot;MultiBit-HD extract private keys modification fork&quot; really worked. It really does. I followed it to the letter and even though his suggested version of java is not available anymore the version available right now did the job. The one thing I do not recommend is the last part about using an Electron Cash wallet. I used Coinomi instead and got excellent help from Brendon Spencer at Coinomi HelpDesk.</p>
<p>I did send something of value of the BCH to Joseph for his work. Maybe I should have sent more.. As my private key would have been gone forever without his help.</p>
<p>Here is Josephs solution:
<a href="https://github.com/josephduchesne/multibit-hd/blob/develop/README.md" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/josephduchesne/multibit-hd/blob/develop/README.md</a>
Follow it. It works!</p>
<p>Also check Coinomis:
<a href="https://coinomi.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/29000026274-bch-abc-bsv-fork-information-splitting" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://coinomi.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/29000026274-bch-abc-bsv-fork-information-splitting</a>
That will work perfectly and now I am awaiting the Coinomis solution to claim BCHABC.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-16T20:28:22.530Z
2020-12-16T20:28:22.530Z
Anders
<p>I'm ignoring the off-topic aspect of the question.</p>
<p>See <a href="https://bitzuma.com/posts/a-complete-guide-to-the-multibit-bitcoin-wallet/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://bitzuma.com/posts/a-complete-guide-to-the-multibit-bitcoin-wallet/</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Begin a backup by selecting the <code>Tools</code> &gt; <code>Export Private Keys</code> option from the main menu. Select a convenient filename for the backup (in this case, petty-cash.key), and add a password for the file. Press the Export private keys button when you’re ready continue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Assuming what they write applies to Multibit HD as well as Multibit classic,</p>
<p>I suggest doing this without specifying a password, then examining the file contents.</p>
<pre><code>( ) Password protect export file
(•) Do not password protect export file
</code></pre>
<p>I'm not familiar with Multibit but I'd expect there's a good chance the backup is in a readable form such as JSON or maybe in a widely used form such as WIF. If not it may be possible to examing it using a hexdump tool and work out the key from the contents</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-15T14:54:41.410Z
2020-12-15T14:54:41.410Z
RedGrittyBrick
<p>Have a MultiBit HD wallet that contained BCH. These were transferred to a more secure environment in 2017. Have now realized that I can sweep the Bitcoin Cash that was issued 1st of August 2017 from the Multibit HD wallet. If I did know the private key. I do have the password so I can easily unlock the wallet, but I can't seem to find how to retrieve the private key. The mnemonic seed is of course long gone so I have to rely on the wallet and the password.
In Bitcoin Core its easy to retrieve the private key, just using the console. But MultiBit HD doesn't have that feature. Any suggestions?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-05-14T15:15:23.743Z
Inside multibit there is an export key function, if you dont add encryption, its possible to open the .key file with any text editor and read the private key in plain text. The same private key can be used to move any fork like BTG BSV or BCH by importing it to electrum cash or any other tool
KeychainX
<multibit>
How to retrive private key from MultiBit HD 0.5.1
Anders
# How to retrive private key from MultiBit HD 0.5.1

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-12-08)

Have a MultiBit HD wallet that contained BCH. These were transferred to a more secure environment in 2017. Have now realized that I can sweep the Bitcoin Cash that was issued 1st of August 2017 from the Multibit HD wallet. If I did know the private key. I do have the password so I can easily unlock the wallet, but I can't seem to find how to retrieve the private key. The mnemonic seed is of course long gone so I have to rely on the wallet and the password.
In Bitcoin Core its easy to retrieve the private key, just using the console. But MultiBit HD doesn't have that feature. Any suggestions?

**Tags:** multibit

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Inside multibit there is an export key function, if you dont add encryption, its possible to open the .key file with any text editor and read the private key in plain text. The same private key can be used to move any fork like BTG BSV or BCH by importing it to electrum cash or any other tool  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2020-12-16. Score: 1

Good day and thanks for replying.

In my first message I made an error. It was BTC and not BCH as I wrote. I needed the private key from my the BTC (December 2016 to October 2017) in the Multibit HD wallet to retrieve the BCH (split 1st of August 2017) and the BSV (from the split 15th November 2018), also in the future to claim my BCHABC (another split on the 15th November 2020)

Multibit HD is unfortunately not so easy to handle. It was the successor of Multibit Classic and in Classic it was easy to retrieve the private key, as it is in Bitcoin Core or other similar softwares. Multibit HD not so. There is not any way you can get your private key from within the software.

I have been in contact with the owners of Multibit, Shapeshift/Keepkey. They will not assist as they claim the software is deprecated. My personal feeling is not something I would like to share, but if a company buys another company and then makes it impossible to use the software and thereby making people lose money... Well I ain't buying anything from Shapeshift/Keepkey. Ever.

However after a lot of work and some great assistance I have been able to retrieve the private key from my Multibit HD wallet and then able to claim my BCH and BSV. Will also be able claim the BCH/ABC.

The main credit is to Joseph Dushesne. His "MultiBit-HD extract private keys modification fork" really worked. It really does. I followed it to the letter and even though his suggested version of java is not available anymore the version available right now did the job. The one thing I do not recommend is the last part about using an Electron Cash wallet. I used Coinomi instead and got excellent help from Brendon Spencer at Coinomi HelpDesk.

I did send something of value of the BCH to Joseph for his work. Maybe I should have sent more.. As my private key would have been gone forever without his help.

Here is Josephs solution:
<https://github.com/josephduchesne/multibit-hd/blob/develop/README.md>
Follow it. It works!

Also check Coinomis:
<https://coinomi.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/29000026274-bch-abc-bsv-fork-information-splitting>
That will work perfectly and now I am awaiting the Coinomis solution to claim BCHABC.


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2020-12-15. Score: 0

I'm ignoring the off-topic aspect of the question.

See <https://bitzuma.com/posts/a-complete-guide-to-the-multibit-bitcoin-wallet/>

> Begin a backup by selecting the `Tools` > `Export Private Keys` option from the main menu. Select a convenient filename for the backup (in this case, petty-cash.key), and add a password for the file. Press the Export private keys button when you’re ready continue.

Assuming what they write applies to Multibit HD as well as Multibit classic,

I suggest doing this without specifying a password, then examining the file contents.

```
( ) Password protect export file
(•) Do not password protect export file

```

I'm not familiar with Multibit but I'd expect there's a good chance the backup is in a readable form such as JSON or maybe in a widely used form such as WIF. If not it may be possible to examing it using a hexdump tool and work out the key from the contents


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