Thank you for the response, I am still trying to work out what format these keys are in, i know they are from around 2014.
You're welcome, no problem.
You can try using the
stand-alone files at
https://www.bitaddress.org to convert your private key.
DON'T enter your private key on the site itself.
I think the safest way to do this would be to download the
zip file on one computer and then save to a memory drive and then connect that drive to a different computer which has NEVER been online (and that wont be EVER be online in the future either).
Most people don't have a computer dedicated to strictly offline use. So, a workaround would be the following:
1. Go to bitaddress.org and click the
(zip) of the "GitHub Repository (zip)" to automatically download the standalone (link found towards the bottom left corner of the bitaddress.org website)
2. After you download the zip restart your computer.
3. Disable internet (and if using an ethernet cable you should unplug it)
4. Extract files from the zip.
5. Open a web browser (e.g., Pale Moon, Brave, Vivaldi, Firefox, Chrome, etc.)
6. Drag the
bitaddress.org HTML file (not the sig file, unless you want to first verify the signature) into your browser.
7. The file (when opened in your web browser) should look like the bitaddress.org website. Click on "
Wallet Details" (it's in the green colored part of the screen)
8. Type in or paste in your private key and then click on "
View Details"
9. You should now see different encodings of your private key (and the public key too).
(I embedded a screenshot below of an example of what you'll see).
10. If you're using the Bitcoin.com wallet app you can scan (with your Bitcoin.com wallet app, in Settings I think there is a sweep option) the private key that says
Private key WIF Compressed and sweep it. The Bitcoin.com wallet app supports both BTC and BCH.
Note: If your private key is from circa 2014 (as you mentioned in your reply above), and if you do indeed do have a BTC balance, you should also have equal amounts of all subsequent forks (for example: Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Bitcoin Diamond (BCD), Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV)). Exercise due diligence when attempting to claim the other forks because many of the wallet applications which support some of those forks will steal your private key and any coins related to the key.
11. When you're done using the standalone file in your browser you should clear your browser cache and restart your computer.
Please let us forum geeks know how it goes.