Phrase · Zero balance
I have the phrase but the wallet shows empty: the 5 most common causes
It is one of the ugliest scares there is, and it almost never means what it looks like. In the vast majority of cases the money hasn’t moved: you have opened a different door from the one you wanted. Go through these five causes in this order before drawing conclusions.
1. You are looking at the wrong account
A phrase doesn’t open one wallet: it opens a whole bunch of them. Apps show the first account by default, and if you were using the third, there is nothing there. Look in the accounts menu for the add-account option and keep adding: they will appear with their balances if that is where the money is.
2. It is a different address type
Especially with Bitcoin. The same phrase can generate addresses starting with 1, with 3 or with bc1, and those are different wallets with the same key. If you restore in an app that uses one type while you used another, you see zero. This is explained slowly in the phrase works but I can’t see my funds.
3. You had an extra password enabled
The so-called «25th word». If you enabled it back then and don’t type it when restoring, your correct phrase opens a perfectly valid and perfectly empty wallet, with no error message at all. It is the cruellest cause and the hardest to spot on your own. It’s in the «25th word».
4. You are on the wrong network
Many people hold funds on a network the app doesn’t show by default. The phrase is right, the account is right, but you are looking at a different window. Check the app’s network selector and add the one you used.
5. The money really did move
It is the last possibility, not the first. And it has a very clear check: look up one of your addresses in a block explorer and read the history. If there is a dated outgoing movement, the money moved that day. If there is no outgoing movement, it is still there and your problem is one of the four points above.