Process
How wallet recovery works
No black box and no drip-feed. This is the whole process, including the parts where the answer is that nothing can be done.
The five steps
- 01
Tell us what happened
A short description of the wallet, what you still have, and what you have already tried. No sensitive detail at this stage. We reply within 24 hours.
- 02
Free assessment call
We call you. Confidential, no obligation. You get an honest read on whether this is recoverable and roughly how long it would take. If it is not, we say so here - not after taking a fee.
- 03
Terms in writing
If we think we can help, a short agreement sets out the recovery percentage and the scope. Nothing is payable unless we succeed. An NDA is signed before any work begins.
- 04
The recovery itself
Methodical, offline, documented. For anything of significant value we travel to you at our cost and work on air-gapped equipment, so your key material never leaves the room.
- 05
Handover
Assets moved to a wallet you control, with help setting it up properly so this cannot happen again. Follow-up consulting is included at no extra cost.
Timing
How long each stage takes
Recovery time depends almost entirely on the type of failure. Anyone quoting you a fixed turnaround before understanding the problem is guessing.
| Stage | Typical duration | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| First response | Within 24 hours | We read what you sent and come back to arrange a call. If your description makes it obvious the case is not recoverable, we say so here rather than booking a call to say it. |
| Assessment call | 30–60 minutes | The most important conversation in the process. We work out what actually happened, what you still hold, and what the realistic odds are. Most of the technical judgement is made here. |
| Agreement | Same day, usually | A short written agreement covering scope and the recovery percentage, plus an NDA. Nothing is payable at this point or at any point unless we succeed. |
| Recovery | Hours to weeks | Entirely dependent on the problem. A derivation path issue can resolve in an afternoon; a large password search runs as long as it runs. You get progress updates rather than silence. |
| Handover | Same visit | Funds moved to a wallet you control, set up properly, with the backup verified in front of you. Follow-up consulting is included. |
The awkward part
When we tell you no
A meaningful share of the enquiries we receive are not recoverable. A seed phrase that is genuinely gone with no wallet file and no backup. A device that has wiped itself with nothing written down. A randomly generated password never recorded anywhere. In each of those, the cryptography is doing exactly what it was built to do, and no amount of effort or money changes the answer.
We tell you that on the first call, for free. It costs us the engagement and it is the only defensible way to run this work - the entire industry around us is built on charging people to find out that the answer was always no. If you would rather hear a maybe, we are not the right firm.
Our Specialty Areas
Discreet. Scientific. Exhaustive.
From simple to seemingly impossible, we're built for the full spectrum of wallet recovery.
Select a category to read more
Seed phrase recovery
Seed phrase recovery
Missing or damaged recovery words, reconstructed mathematically.
A recovery phrase carries a built-in checksum, so most damaged phrases can be rebuilt by working through the valid possibilities systematically rather than guessing. Missing words, wrong order, and illegible handwriting are all constraint problems, solved offline and verified against a known address.
What we cover
A 12-word phrase carries a 4-bit checksum, a 24-word phrase an 8-bit one, invalidating all but a fraction of candidates
One missing word at 24 words collapses to roughly 8 valid candidates, verifiable in minutes
Every BIP-39 word is uniquely identified by its first four letters, so smudged endings rarely matter
Wrong word order is a permutation search, not a dictionary search
Detection across all ten BIP-39 languages, since a phrase won't validate against the wrong wordlist
Every candidate checked against a known address before anything moves
You'll hear back from Nic or Harry directly - not a call centre. Beware of scammers.
Contact us
Tell us what happened and we'll call you back within 24 hours. The assessment is free, confidential, and carries no obligation - and if we don't think we can help, we'll say so on that call, not after taking a fee.
No fee unless we succeed
10% of what's recovered, agreed in writing beforehand. Nothing if we fail.
We can come to you
Anywhere in New Zealand, at our cost, for cases of significant value.
Nothing is retained
Keys and phrases are destroyed or returned at the end of the engagement. NDA signed before we start.