user71392: Don't you just need the recovery phrase to get your bitcoins back if your computer is lost or damaged?
I don't understand these stories of people trying to find old computers with wallets on them at the dump.

user48743: The wallet file may be encrypted with a passphrase however the wallet file contains the private keys associated to addresses in that wallet. Without the private keys you can never spend the bitcoin in those addresses.
It is all the magic of asymetric cryptography and digital signatures. A private key is used to sign data, and a public key is used to verify the data was signed by the appropriate person.

user69241: Are you talking about the people who mined or bought bitcoins in 2009 - 2011 and are surprised that the price is that high now?
HD-wallets (wallets with such a recovery phrase, it's called seed) are available since BIP 32 and that was around 2013.
So they don't have such a wallet and can't recover anything. That's why they search their old hardware.

71392: <p>Don't you just need the recovery phrase to get your bitcoins back if your computer is lost or damaged?</p>

<p>I don't understand these stories of people trying to find old computers with wallets on them at the dump.</p>
 48743: <p>The wallet file may be encrypted with a passphrase however the wallet file contains the private keys associated to addresses in that wallet. Without the private keys you can never spend the bitcoin in those addresses.</p>

<p>It is all the magic of asymetric cryptography and digital signatures. A private key is used to sign data, and a public key is used to verify the data was signed by the appropriate person.</p>
 69241: <p>Are you talking about the people who mined or bought bitcoins in 2009 - 2011 and are surprised that the price is that high now?</p>

<p>HD-wallets (wallets with such a recovery phrase, it's called <code>seed</code>) are available since <a href="https://bitcoin.org/en/glossary/hd-protocol" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BIP 32</a> and that was around 2013.</p>

<p>So they don't have such a wallet and can't recover anything. That's why they search their old hardware.</p>
