Invalid checksum WIF: what it means and how recovery works
If your wallet says invalid checksum while importing a WIF key, this usually means one or more Base58 characters are wrong or missing.
Typical causes
- Manual copy typo in a long Base58 WIF string.
- OCR/photo errors from a paper wallet backup.
- Corrupted export text where a few symbols changed.
What improves feasibility
- Known number and approximate position of unknown symbols.
- Public key available (candidate filtering is much stronger).
- Clean mask format using
?placeholders only.
What to prepare before assessment
Prepare your masked WIF, indicate where the checksum/import fails, and include whether you have public key or address only. Do not send full secrets via website forms.