Setting Your Monero Restore Height
A monero restore height is a specific block number that tells your wallet client where to start scanning the blockchain for your funds. If you set it too high, your wallet will skip past your transactions, and your balance will display as $0.00. Setting it to 0 will scan the entire blockchain but will take days. For a fast and successful recovery, set it to 20,000 blocks (about 3 weeks) before your very first transaction.
Illustration: Ascending block steps toward the latest synchronized ledger state.
Why Does Restore Height Matter?
In a standard public blockchain (like Bitcoin or Litecoin), balances are indexed publicly on explorer websites. In contrast, Monero is designed for absolute privacy. To determine your balance, your wallet client must decrypt every single block in sequence using your private View Key. This makes Monero a true privacy coin, but it requires a lot of computing power.
To avoid scanning the entire history of Monero (which launched in 2014 and has millions of blocks), Cake Wallet allows you to specify a starting block height. If you are importing a monero seed phrase into a newly downloaded app (via cake wallet download), this setting is mandatory to ensure all past transactions are detected.
Monero Block Height Reference Table (2023 - 2026)
Use the conversion chart below to find the approximate block height corresponding to the date your wallet was created. To be safe, always choose a block height slightly *before* your actual wallet creation date:
| Target Date | Approximate Block Height | Safe Start Height (Subtracting 20,000 Blocks) |
|---|---|---|
| January 2023 | 2,790,000 | 2,770,000 | July 2023 | 2,920,000 | 2,900,000 |
| January 2024 | 3,050,000 | 3,030,000 |
| July 2024 | 3,180,000 | 3,160,000 |
| January 2025 | 3,310,000 | 3,290,000 |
| July 2025 | 3,440,000 | 3,420,000 |
| January 2026 | 3,570,000 | 3,550,000 |
| Current Date (June 2026) | 3,680,000 | 3,660,000 |
Note: Monero blocks are mined approximately every 2 minutes. This translates to 720 blocks per day and roughly 262,800 blocks per year.
How to Change Your Restore Height & Rescan
If you suspect your wallet missed old transactions, follow these steps to trigger a local database rebuild:
- Open your wallet in Cake Wallet.
- Tap the Menu button in the upper right-hand corner and choose Connection & Sync (or Rescan depending on the OS version).
- Tap Rescan.
- Enter your estimated block height from the table above or select a date if the UI prompts you.
- Tap Confirm. Your wallet will go back to the "Connecting" state and start a fresh progress bar. Keep the app open until the sync is complete to prevent iOS or Android from closing the process.
Non-Custodial Security Checklist
Because Cake Wallet is a non-custodial wallet, your recovery keys and block configurations are entirely in your hands. This is why many consider it the best privacy crypto wallet. However, this sovereignty means if you lose your seed phrase, no one can recover it for you. There is no password reset page or centralized support. Double-check your backup practices using our guidelines in the Editorial Policy.