I am trying to identify a Bitcoin-related service or wallet that I remember using around 2009.
I understand that modern mnemonic recovery seeds (such as BIP39) did not exist in 2009, and I am not claiming that this was a modern seed phrase.
My recollection is the following:
I was introduced to Bitcoin by a friend.
I created a new email account specifically for this.
I registered on a website with an email address and password.
I bought Bitcoin for a small amount of euros. My recollection is that payment was made by bank transfer from a German bank account.
Afterward I could see a Bitcoin balance associated with my account on the website.
I was advised to move the bitcoins to a wallet so that I would still have access to them if the website disappeared.
I did not install wallet software. I remember doing this in the browser.
During this process, the system generated a number of apparently random words for me. I understood these words at the time as a password/passphrase and wrote them down on paper.
I kept that piece of paper for many years.
I no longer know the exact number of words, so I do not want to claim that it was 12, 16, 24, etc.
There is one additional unusual memory: while using the words, I remember seeing an extremely long, apparently random sequence of characters in the browser’s address bar. I cannot reliably reconstruct what it contained or what technical mechanism produced it.
I also remember the website/interface as having a dark or black background, but I consider that visual memory less reliable than the other details.
I am aware that parts of this description do not fit the commonly documented history of Bitcoin wallets and exchanges. That discrepancy is exactly what I am trying to investigate. Possible explanations I am considering include an experimental service, a non-standard key-generation scheme, a service that was not actually a Bitcoin wallet, a later event being incorrectly dated in my memory, or even a fraudulent service.
I am particularly interested in contemporaneous evidence: archived websites, source code, mailing-list posts, forum posts, screenshots, or documentation from 2009–2010.
There is also an older question by user GPHM describing a remembered 12–16 word passphrase from early 2009:
The BTC core wallet lets me choose my own passphrase with 12-16 words. The latest would be late January, early February 2009. What wallet was I using? I can’t find a reference online. Everyone says that passphrases weren’t used until 2013. I am trying to get my wallet back. I now remember my passphrase.
I do not know GPHM and found that question only recently. I would be very interested in hearing from GPHM if they ever see this, but I do not want to assume that our experiences involved the same system.
Does anyone know of a Bitcoin-related website, wallet prototype, key-generation tool or other service from 2009–2010 that could match any of these technical characteristics, particularly automatically generated words used as a password/passphrase?
