You remember you sent some ETH to your Ledger device a while ago, but you had to do a firmware update, or restore your seed with the 24 words mnemonic and your coins are not showing up? Don’t Panic!
This guide will approach your problem in a methodical way to try to get your funds back. So, let’s begin.
Solutions
Make sure you are using the latest version of Ledger Live.
Check if the coins are still there
If you withdraw the coins from an exchange there are chances that you have an email or receipt with the withdrawal information. Try to find out to which address you sent the funds.
An ETH address should start by 0x and look like this:
0x47C857f3e9771772Ded08D7FD376Df84575Dbab9Alternatively, you can use the block explorer like Etherscan.io to check how many ETH are stored at one address on the blockchain.
Phew, coins are still there…
Restore the ledger recovery seed
If you initialized your ledger correctly you should have a list of 24 words called mnemonic. This mnemonic is the master seed that can be used to compute all the private keys associated with your wallet.
The order of the words matter, switching place just two words with each other won’t create the same seed at all.
If you managed to restore the ledger with your 24 words, then proceed with the next step.
Add a passphrase
For added security, Ledger allows the user to add a passphrase to your master seed. Think of it like a 25th word that you choose. The only restriction on it for the ledger is a character limit of 100.
To restore the same master seed, if you used a passphrase/25th word you are going to need to restore this exact same passphrase.
Conclusion
Noticing that your funds may be gone is never fun. Take the right precautions and use the best protection to secure your crypto. Follow this tutorial as a guide to help you achieve that. Next time this happens, you will know what to do.