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Let's say that I have generated some private keys offline and use them for my savings. For my spending money I prefer to use an online wallet instead of downloading the client.

Is there any service online where I can enter

  1. My private key
  2. A destination address (the online wallet)

and simply click a button to send the whole balance to the destination address?

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5 Answers 5

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It [edit: was] possible to redeem a private key at MtGox. Under "Add funds", choose "Redeem private key" and pick the format that you want to enter the private key in. The full amount of the private key will be added to your MtGox account.

Update: It is also possible at My Wallet (blockchain.info).

Update2: Mycelium wallet for Android app has a "cold storage" feature. You simply scan (or enter) the private key, then scan (or enter) the Bitcoin address t send the funds to. Hit send and you are done.

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  • I'm accepting my own answer here since it's the closest I have found to my requirements. If anyone finds a better service that doesn't require you to open an account to use it, please add that answer. I'll be happy to change the accepted answer if such a service turns up.
    – D.H.
    Commented Oct 5, 2011 at 20:30
  • Also, EasyWallet.org, accessed from a Mobile, will do a Scan to redeem a private key. A fee is assessed, however.
    – Stephen Gornick
    Commented Apr 16, 2013 at 22:18
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Not that I know of. But so long as you transfer the full balance, that does seem like a reasonable service to provide.

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    I am "emptying" the balance on the private key so there is no change. I won't use it again so it doesn't matter if they store it. The point is pretty well outlined in the question I think. I don't want to bother with having an installed client but I don't want to trust all my money with an e-wallet. Generating a bunch of private keys to use for savings is a one time task.
    – D.H.
    Commented Sep 7, 2011 at 18:42
  • Ah, that would be doable and make sense. If it were a "dump" that then left the account empty, that would avoid the problems. I adjusted my answer.
    – David Schwartz
    Commented Sep 7, 2011 at 18:53
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That would, of course, require trust that the site actually honors your request to send the funds to the address you provided rather than their own address -- so there is a level of trust required, just as there would be with an eWallet or exchange.

I don't know of any service yet [Upate: Mt. Gox and Blockchain.info/wallet both offer this], but because the patched Bitcoin client with this feature has been available for quite some time, the technical difficulty in providing this as a web service is not significant.

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    Yes, but the level of trust required is so much lower than with an e-wallet. If they don't honor the requests of sending funds people would find out very soon. They would not be able to steal a lot of money. An e-wallet can build up trust, gather lots of money from different people, and then steal it all in a second.
    – D.H.
    Commented Sep 7, 2011 at 20:34
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Mycelium wallet for Android has a feature called "Cold Storage" that does exactly what you are looking for.

You simply scan (or enter) the private key, then scan (or enter) the Bitcoin address t send the funds to. Hit send and you are done.

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If you know what you're doing, you can craft a raw transaction manually using just your private key, a list of unspent outputs associated with your source address, and the destination address. There are open-source tools that allows you to do that securely offline (e.g. brainwallet.org).

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