Litecoin.watch wallet recovery study — release 2026-09-27.1
https://litecoin.watch/wallet-recovery/

SCOPE
Two wallet implementations and one wallet engine. Core 0.21.5.8 ran on isolated
regtest. The signed Electrum-LTC 4.2.2.1 Windows executable ran offline with a
fresh data directory and explicit synthetic wallet files. Trust Wallet Core
4.8.4 WebAssembly ran in Node.js. The Trust Wallet mobile/extension apps and the
Electrum GUI BIP39 restore wizard were not tested. No recovery rates are estimated.
No real funds, real recovery secrets, hardware devices or MWEB were used.

RUN
Use a disposable directory on a test computer. Download upstream Core and Electrum
from the project sources in provenance.json and verify their signatures/checksums.
The recorded signer keys were linked by electrum-ltc.org; their real-world identity
was not independently certified. Do not install a tested old release for real funds
just because it appears in a research comparison.

Download the scripts, node-dependencies.json, node-dependencies-lock.json and
electrum-public-fixture.json. Rename the two node-dependencies files to package.json
and package-lock.json respectively before running npm ci.
Rename script endings .cjs.txt to .cjs and .py.txt to .py. Keep the fixture next to
electrum-recovery.py so it restores the same PUBLIC SYNTHETIC Electrum seed.
Commands (replace executable paths):

npm ci --ignore-scripts
node trust-recovery.cjs trust-results-private.json
python electrum-recovery.py /path/to/electrum-ltc-4.2.2.1.exe trust-results-private.json electrum-results.json
python core-recovery.py /path/to/litecoind /path/to/litecoin-cli core-results.json

The temporary trust output includes PUBLIC-FIXTURE account private keys needed for
the key-import bridge. These are intentionally derived from the public BIP39 test
phrase, not real wallet exports. Never use or fund any fixture address or key.
The published trust-results.json omits those account keys; the script regenerates them.
Use Python 3 and Node.js; tested on Windows with Python 3.12 and Node v24.19.0.
(The actual Node version is recorded in trust-results.json.)
Electrum's standalone Windows executable is invoked directly; a Python source
installation and the exploratory local dependency environment are not required.

EXPECTED
Core: 14 assertions, including balance restored, locked encryption state, ownership
and signed candidates for three script types, plus one mined regtest spend.
Electrum: 20 assertions including 20 receiving and 10 change addresses restored,
watch-only addresses matching but unable to sign, 10 address comparisons across
P2PKH/P2WPKH account-key imports, and verified message signatures.
Trust Wallet Core: 8 assertions and 42 fixed address derivations restored, including
passphrase variations, accounts, change branches and an index beyond 19.
The cross-wallet bridge imports BIP39-DERIVED ACCOUNT KEYS. It does not test
entering BIP39 words into Electrum's graphical recovery wizard.
Core transaction IDs and timestamps vary between runs. The fixed mnemonic
address outputs and pass/fail outcomes should reproduce; compare outcomes, not
whole-file hashes of a rerun. A changed dependency invalidates an exact-version claim.

FILES
summary.json: scope and counts; core/electrum/trust-results.json: actual observations.
addresses.csv: 42 fixture derivations; cross-implementation.csv: 10 matched addresses.
provenance.json: versions and software fingerprints. SHA256SUMS: published file hashes.
recovery-record.txt: a blank metadata worksheet, not a request for secrets.

CITATION
Litecoin.watch (2026). Litecoin wallet recovery: files, seeds and account keys.
Release 2026-09-27.1. https://litecoin.watch/wallet-recovery/
Editorial responsibility: Jaroslaw Wasinski. AI-assisted preparation and scripted
checks; no independent human review is claimed.
Original observations/diagrams: CC BY 4.0. Our scripts: MIT. Upstream software
retains its own licenses and is downloaded from its publisher, not bundled here.