garlicoin.org

Found an old Garlicoin wallet?

Bought some garlic in 2018 and just found the wallet? Your coins are still there: Garlicoin has kept running ever since. Here's how to get back to them, step by step, and what they're worth today.

What did you find?

A wallet filewallet.dat, or a backup of it A paper wallet or private keya long code, usually starting with T or 6 12 or 24 wordsa recovery phrase from a light wallet Just an addressstarts with G, M or grlc1 An exchange accountcoins you left on an exchange

Before anything else

What is it worth?

At today's price from the market page. Garlicoin trades in small volumes, so selling a large amount at once may get less.

A wallet file (wallet.dat)

This is the file Garlicoin Core keeps your keys in. To use it:

  1. Install Garlicoin Core from the official site ↗, start it once so it makes its folder, then close it.
  2. Put your wallet in place. Open the Garlicoin data folder: %APPDATA%\Garlicoin on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/Garlicoin on a Mac, ~/.garlicoin on Linux. If there's already a wallet.dat there, rename it to wallet-new.dat. Then copy your old file in and name it wallet.dat.
  3. Speed up the sync with our bootstrap download. Without it, catching up on years of blocks can take a day or more.
  4. Start Garlicoin Core and let it finish syncing. Your old balance appears once it's caught up. It may say "Rescanning" for a while first: that's it reading your old transactions. Leave it be.
  5. Move the coins somewhere fresh if the file has been lying around: make a new receiving address and send everything to it, then back up the wallet (File → Backup Wallet).
It asks for a passphrase I don't remember

The file is encrypted, and without the passphrase nobody can open it: not us, not the Garlicoin developers. Try the passwords you used back then, with variations in capitals and numbers at the end. Keep the file safe either way; you may remember it later. Be very wary of anyone offering to "crack" it for you: you would be handing them the coins.

Garlicoin Core says the wallet is corrupt or won't load

Work on a copy. Close Garlicoin Core and start it once with the -salvagewallet option, which pulls the keys out of a damaged file. If it still won't open, ask in the Discord, and remember: never send the file itself to anyone.

A paper wallet or private key

A private key is all you need. In Garlicoin Core's console (Help → Debug window → Console), type importprivkey, a space, then the key, and press Enter. The wallet re-reads the blockchain for that key's coins, which can take half an hour or more. Then send the coins to a new address of your own.

Our gift card guide walks through it step by step. A Garlicoin gift card is a paper wallet, so the steps are the same.

12 or 24 words

These usually come from a light wallet such as Garlium (also called Electrum-GRLC). Your coins are on the blockchain, not in the app, so the words still control them.

  1. Install Garlium ↗ and choose to restore a wallet from your words.
  2. Point it at a working server. The app's built-in server list is out of date. Open Tools → Network, turn off automatic server selection and enter electrum.maxpuig.com:50002 or electrum.niftybakes.com:50002 (community servers, working in October 2026).
  3. Give it time on the first start while it catches up, then your balance appears.

Keep the words private, and never type them into a website.

Just an address

An address lets you see coins, not spend them. Check it above to find out what's there. To spend, you need the private key, wallet file or recovery words that go with it. Look in old backups, email attachments from wallet apps, and USB sticks from around the time you bought.

Coins left on an exchange

Many of the exchanges that listed Garlicoin in 2018 have since closed. If yours still exists, log in and withdraw to your own wallet. If it has closed, the coins are usually gone. Ignore anyone who contacts you offering to recover them for a fee: that's a common scam.

Got them back?

Welcome back. Garlicoin still runs on its own network, with new blocks about every 40 seconds. Spend some at the shops that take GRLC, write on the Garlicoin wall, or see where it trades. Something sent and not arriving? Check a transaction.