A couple of months ago...
When I started actually buying alt coins one of my first major purchases was SJCX, for those of you who don't know this token was the Counterparty counterpart (couldn't help myself) or predecessor to STORJ coin moving over to an ERC20 token standard. In the time leading up to the fork I learned that you couldn't interact with token contracts from an exchange, a quick search told me using the Counterwallet was my best bet and would allow me to do the token exchange seamlessly.
Now this was also a time when I didn't realize you could hold multiple currencies in the same wallet (oh how far I've come)! so I made the mistake of creating two wallets in my Counterwallet. If you haven't used Counterwallet you might be asking why this was a mistake, it certainly took me a while to realize my blunder. You see Counterwallet requires you to hold bitcoin in whatever address you are using, .01 BTC to be exact, and try as you might it was impossible to send them out through the Counterwallet interface. At the time I gave up on the money, two wallets each with about 20 dollars in them was a loss I could stomach knowing that I wouldn't make the same mistake.
You either win or you learn right?
Fast forward a number of months and my knowledge of crypto has grown by an order of magnitude. I've started using Brave browser regularly and happen to notice a bookmark I had saved a number of months ago. Once again I am looking at my imprisoned bitcoin but this time it's value is less stomach-able. Some quick mental math tells me that if my price predictions of BTC are correct I will be more and more sad about this loss as time goes on.
So I start googling...
I find out quickly that there are flaws in the Counterwallet coding (I know, big surprise right?) about half an hour later and a couple forums deep I find my solution: Use another wallet provider to access your funds
This devastatingly obvious answer was right under my nose the whole time. When thinking of traditional systems this isn't even something that would come to mind. I mean after all you can't use your Chase (ew) bank account to log into your Wells Fargo account (ew * 2)
So here's what you do:
1. Go to https://rarepepewallet.com/
2. Click 'Advanced' at page bottom
3. Click 'Enter Existing Passphrase'
4. Enter your 12 word Counterwallet seed
5. Once in click the gears in the upper right corner to select amongst your wallets
6. Once in correct wallet click the money symbol and then click your BTC value
7. Paste the (liberated) wallet address to which you'd like to send
8. Subtract the current fee from your 'Available Balance' and enter in 'Send Amount'
9. Click send and enjoy your money
The Takeaways
The crypto space, while beautiful, is far from simple and straightforward. As incumbent users we must do all in our power to democratize the information we have and to simplify the future of blockchain for the masses. Only through recognition of our goal end user can we truly build the tools to change the world.
P.S. I'm going to hold onto the BTC I thought I'd lost for a while, getting it back was a happy journey of discovery.
If you are able to liberate any of your Bitcoin from a Counterwallet and you can spare some please feel free to send any amount no matter how small to me. Your help can allow me to create and write more on democratizing the blockchain:
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Best,
//Mason