<p>If you have your bitcoins in your phone, tablet or laptop, you can buy yourself some coffee in the <a href="http://www.coinmap.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">nearest</a> Bitcoin-accepting coffee shop. If they accept your bitcoins, you can feel confident they are real.</p>

<p>Alternatively, you can make a small online donation to help <a href="https://freeross.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ross Ulbricht</a>. He's a Bitcoin martyr and a political prisoner. He is serving a double life sentence for creating the Silk Road, a free market that helped popularize Bitcoin in its early days.</p>

<p>Finally, you can also donate to a Bitcoin-accepting foundation:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give#bitcoin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a></li>
<li><a href="https://shop.wikileaks.org/donate#db3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">WikiLeaks</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.bitgivefoundation.org/donate-now/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BitGive</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Donation-accepting_organizations_and_projects" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Others</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Again, if any of these entities accept your donation, you can feel confident your bitcoins are real.</p>

<p><em>You can also transfer all your bitcoins to me. I'll check them for free and if they're real I'll transfer them back to you ;)</em></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-15T18:37:29.503Z
2017-12-11T13:24:34.270Z
2017-12-11T13:24:34.270Z
e18r
<p>The best way to know your own private key is to go to a wallet generation site like bitaddress.org, and it will generate one of those key pairs for you. It will let you see both the public and the private keys.  </p>

<p>If you use a wallet software it is difficult to see the private key; they are trying to make things less complicated for end users so they keep the key out of sight.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-03T16:59:52.493Z
2016-09-03T16:59:52.493Z
Digital Galaxy
<p>Enter your Bitcoin address (the one you were paid into) into a public blockchain browser such as <a href="https://blockchain.info/" rel="noreferrer">https://blockchain.info/</a>. That will show you the relevant entries in the global shared Bitcoin ledger, which confirms that you, as the holder of the private key for that address, are the owner of those funds.</p>

<p>If you lose control of your private key for any reason, then your bitcoins might not be yours for much longer.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-30T09:14:33.863Z
Great answer, thank-you. Where can I see my private key? I had thought that public-private key pairs were newly generated for each transaction and after the transaction became obsolete. From what you say it sounds like I have one master key which is written somewhere that I need to keep safe.
Aerinmund Fagelson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-30T09:18:35.613Z
@AerinmundFagelson: I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the Electra wallet software. Each Bitcoin address has its own private key, which will be stored in a wallet data file somewhere.
Greg Hewgill
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-30T09:22:28.030Z
I am a now confused because I am only just learning about these things, but I have been taught that private-public keys work using the RSA algorithm which means that in order to impersonate a private-key one would need to factor a large number into primes, which is only impossible computationally given a short time period. If I only ever have one private key, what stops someone determining it form my public-key given enough time?
Aerinmund Fagelson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-30T10:23:13.487Z
Bitcoin does not use RSA, but ECDSA. Every address has its own associated private and public key. Computing the private key from the public key for ECDSA requires solving an EC discrete logarithm. The expected time needed with current hardware and algorithms is around 14000000000000000000000000 cpu years.
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-31T13:23:06.380Z
@greg make sure to NEVER enter your private key into any website. Better to not even have it in your clipboard or in any file on your computer. Also by using an online site to check your balance you are trusting them n ot to lie ti you as well as giving away your privacy to them and possibly evesdroppers. The only real way to know the truth and be reasonably private, is to run a full node yourself (Bitcoin Core).
Jannes
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-30T02:11:30.493Z
2016-08-30T02:11:30.493Z
Greg Hewgill
<p>I have bought some bitcoins off local bitcoins and stored them in an Electra wallet in my computer. Given that I have now paid hard cash, how am I to determine that these are real? </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-03T15:49:35.523Z
Related: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/95564/5406
Murch
<security>
How do I know that my bitcoins are real
Aerinmund Fagelson
# How do I know that my bitcoins are real

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-08-30)

I have bought some bitcoins off local bitcoins and stored them in an Electra wallet in my computer. Given that I have now paid hard cash, how am I to determine that these are real?

**Tags:** security

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Related: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/95564/5406  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2016-08-30. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

Enter your Bitcoin address (the one you were paid into) into a public blockchain browser such as <https://blockchain.info/>. That will show you the relevant entries in the global shared Bitcoin ledger, which confirms that you, as the holder of the private key for that address, are the owner of those funds.

If you lose control of your private key for any reason, then your bitcoins might not be yours for much longer.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Great answer, thank-you. Where can I see my private key? I had thought that public-private key pairs were newly generated for each transaction and after the transaction became obsolete. From what you say it sounds like I have one master key which is written somewhere that I need to keep safe.  
> **username_4**: @username_0: I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the Electra wallet software. Each Bitcoin address has its own private key, which will be stored in a wallet data file somewhere.  
> **username_0**: I am a now confused because I am only just learning about these things, but I have been taught that private-public keys work using the RSA algorithm which means that in order to impersonate a private-key one would need to factor a large number into primes, which is only impossible computationally given a short time period. If I only ever have one private key, what stops someone determining it form my public-key given enough time?  
> **username_5**: Bitcoin does not use RSA, but ECDSA. Every address has its own associated private and public key. Computing the private key from the public key for ECDSA requires solving an EC discrete logarithm. The expected time needed with current hardware and algorithms is around 14000000000000000000000000 cpu years.  
> **username_6**: @username_4 make sure to NEVER enter your private key into any website. Better to not even have it in your clipboard or in any file on your computer. Also by using an online site to check your balance you are trusting them n ot to lie ti you as well as giving away your privacy to them and possibly evesdroppers. The only real way to know the truth and be reasonably private, is to run a full node yourself (Bitcoin Core).  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-11-15. Score: 1

If you have your bitcoins in your phone, tablet or laptop, you can buy yourself some coffee in the [nearest](http://www.coinmap.org) Bitcoin-accepting coffee shop. If they accept your bitcoins, you can feel confident they are real.

Alternatively, you can make a small online donation to help [Ross Ulbricht](https://freeross.org). He's a Bitcoin martyr and a political prisoner. He is serving a double life sentence for creating the Silk Road, a free market that helped popularize Bitcoin in its early days.

Finally, you can also donate to a Bitcoin-accepting foundation:

* [Wikipedia](https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give#bitcoin)
* [WikiLeaks](https://shop.wikileaks.org/donate#db3)
* [BitGive](https://www.bitgivefoundation.org/donate-now/)
* [Others](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Donation-accepting_organizations_and_projects)

Again, if any of these entities accept your donation, you can feel confident your bitcoins are real.

*You can also transfer all your bitcoins to me. I'll check them for free and if they're real I'll transfer them back to you ;)*


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2016-09-03. Score: 1

The best way to know your own private key is to go to a wallet generation site like bitaddress.org, and it will generate one of those key pairs for you. It will let you see both the public and the private keys.

If you use a wallet software it is difficult to see the private key; they are trying to make things less complicated for end users so they keep the key out of sight.


---

