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COPAY FAQ

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Javier Donadío edited this page Oct 13, 2017 · 62 revisions

Why my address keeps changing?

To protect your privacy, the BitPay wallet generates new addresses automatically once you use a bitcoin address once.

All bitcoin transactions are public, traceable, and permanently stored in the Bitcoin network. For these reasons, bitcoin addresses should only be used once and users must be careful not to disclose their addresses. When addresses are re-used, they allow others to much more easily and reliably determine that the address being reused is yours.

Why creating a transaction proposal lock my balance and is significantly higher than the proposal amount?

Because it locks the inputs which usually do not exactly match the output amounts. For example, if the input is worth 50 BTC but you only want to send 25 BTC, Bitcoin will create two outputs worth 25 BTC one to the destination, and one back to you ( change ). Then 50 BTC gets locked until the transaction is broadcasted.

Copay requires high fees for low amounts transactions?

There is not an issue there. The parameter used for the fee calculation is the TX size, not the output amount. So, this could happen when you have many small inputs in your wallet, so you need to use all (or most) of them to build the transaction and your fee will be increase significantly. For a more detailed explanation check this contributor comment: https://github.com/bitpay/copay/issues/5164#issuecomment-265569494. This could be useful too: https://github.com/bitpay/copay/issues/4803#issuecomment-254496226.

I always get "Insufficient funds for fee" when trying to send?

This happens when you have insufficient funds to pay the fee amount of the transaction you are trying to send. It could be possible that you have a ton of very small inputs that are no economical worthy to send (check: https://github.com/bitpay/copay/wiki/COPAY---FAQ#copay-requires-high-fees-for-low-amounts-transactions). You can get an idea of your "usable" balance by trying to send all (using the send all feature) funds to other wallet.

I forgot my wallet spending password. Is there a method to reset it?

Since your spending password is not managed by BitPay but created and stored client-side, there is no way to reset it.

However, if you have backed up your wallet, you can delete it and then restore it (import process) from your backup to get access to your wallet without the spending password.

Can a transaction be reversed?

No, a bitcoin transaction which has already been broadcast to the network cannot be reversed. This is an important feature of the bitcoin protocol which prevents payment fraud.

If copay.io disappears. Is there a procedure to recover my funds?

It is possible to recover funds from a Copay Wallet without using Copay or the Wallet Service, check the Copay Recovery Tool - GitHub. All you need is File/Text Backup or Wallet Recovery Phrase (12 words).

Transaction History: "clear cache"?

The transaction history and every new incoming transaction are cached in the app. This feature clean this up and synchronizes again from the server.

How can I get my Wallet Private Key?

You have two ways to obtain you private key:

  1. Visit https://bip32jp.github.io/english/ and paste your BIP39 passphrase ( Copay 12 words backup ). Then, you could get your xPrivKey on the BIP32 Extended Key input.

  2. Go to Settings -> Wallets -> Choose your wallet -> More Options -> Export Wallet -> File/Text -> Set up a password -> Download 

Then, go to https://bitwiseshiftleft.github.io/sjcl/demo/. 
 Open your file and copy the whole text. Paste the text in Ciphertext text area. 
 Enter your password on the Password input. (that password is the one that you enter in Copay)
 Then click in decrypt. 

In the Plaintext text area you could find the xPrivKey.

Amount too low to spend

This warning in incoming transactions is shown when the received amount is too low compared to the current Bitcoin network fees. When trying to redeem this amount in the future, it could happen that the fee required by the Bitcoin network to include it into a transaction will be higher than the amount itself, making it economically inviable to use it.

What the spending password does?

This options protect your sensitive information requiring the password for each time you try to access to sensitive information or instructions like:

  • Sign transactions
  • Export the wallet
  • Access to the backup phrase

Sending BCH shows error "Please enter a valid address"

Both Copay as the Recovery tool accepts BCH addresses starting with C or H, which is a new convention to prevent errors (https://support.bitpay.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004671663-BitPay-s-Adopted-Conventions-for-Bitcoin-Cash-Addresses-URIs-and-Payment-Requests)

If you need to send to "old" addresses, and you are SURE those are BCH addresses, you can "translate" them using the BCH Translator tool: https://bitpay.github.io/address-translator/

Different balance (2 wallet clients) on same wallet seed

Situation: Using Copay and an external wallet software (i.e, Electrum)

Copay cannot see the change address generated by Electrum, so the amount used in the transaction is the only "visible" part of the balance. Copay doesn't look-ahead to synchronize, you must run the scan addresses (manually) to get the correct balance after each transaction made from another wallet.

Source: https://github.com/bitpay/copay/issues/6532

I sent BCH coins into a BTC address. What can I do to recover my BCH coins?

For Copay/BitPay wallets:

  • Ensure to get the correct backup for your BTC wallet, which has received the BCH coins.
  • Using the recovery tool (https://bitpay.github.io/copay-recovery/)
    • Fill each field with your current wallet settings and ensure to select bch/livenet as chain.
    • Fill the backup field and/or passwords if exist.
    • Accept the terms and begin the scan wallet process. Depending of the wallet, this process could take several minutes.
  • Once the scan is complete you will see your BCH available balance with the option to send these funds to another BCH wallet. The recovery tool may work for other wallets using BIP39 format only but was not designed for use with external software.
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