When a client tells us they “bought Bitcoin years ago” but has no wallet file, our first question is always about email archives.
Exchange confirmation emails from the early era — Coinbase, Korbit, Bithumb, Mt. Gox correspondence — frequently contain deposit addresses, transaction IDs, or account identifiers that no longer appear in any app. The wallet software may be gone. The phone may be recycled. But Gmail, Naver Mail, and archived PST files often survive.
What to search for
- Subject lines containing “purchase confirmed,” “deposit received,” or “withdrawal”
- Sender domains: coinbase.com, korbit.co.kr, localbitcoins.com, blockchain.info
- Attachments named “tax_report” or “transaction_history”
Why this matters
A single 2015 Coinbase email can link a person to three addresses. Without it, address recovery depends on guessing which seed phrase belongs to which purchase — a process that burns through passphrase attempts on hardware wallets.
We recommend exporting email archives before any device cleanup. Store them encrypted, separate from seed phrases, and tell a trusted person where both are kept.
This article describes documentation practice only. It does not constitute financial or investment advice.