Coinbase Launches Asset Recovery Tool for Users Who Mistakenly Send Unsupported Tokens
Major cryptocurrency platform Coinbase has introduced an asset recovery tool designed for users who have accidentally sent unsupported tokens to exchange addresses. This new initiative aims to assist users in reclaiming their previously unrecoverable funds.
In a Dec. 15 announcement, Coinbase stated that users who sent any of approximately 4,000 ERC-20 tokens to a Coinbase address can recover their funds by simply providing the Ethereum transaction ID (TXID) for the transaction where the asset was lost, along with the contract address of the lost asset.
The exchange highlighted that certain ERC-20 tokens—including Wrapped Ether (wETH), TrueUSD (TUSD), and staked Ether (STETH)—would be eligible for recovery. A 5% fee will be charged on transactions exceeding $100.
“Our recovery tool is able to move unsupported assets directly from your inbound address to your self-custodial wallet without exposing private keys at any point,” stated Coinbase. “We did this by using patent pending technology to send the funds directly from your inbound address without processing the funds through our centralized exchange infrastructure.”
Accidental fund transfers are a common issue within the crypto space. Notable cases include a 2018 decision in Canada, where a court ruled that a user who received 530 Ether (ETH) instead of the intended 530 Copytrack (CPY) tokens, now defunct, was obligated to return the funds. Similarly, in an Australian case, a judge ruled that Crypto.com must retrieve $10.5 million mistakenly sent to a user instead of a $100 refund.
Other major exchanges have also provided recovery services for similar transactions, though typically on a case-by-case basis. Binance, for instance, indicated on its support pages that it may choose to assist users “solely at its discretion” and generally “does not offer a token/coin recovery service.” Likewise, Crypto.com has instructed users to contact customer service, stating that fund retrieval may not be possible in some instances.
Currently, Coinbase boasts over 100 million users globally. CEO Brian Armstrong recently reported in December that the exchange’s trading revenue for 2022 is projected to be “roughly half” that of 2021. The platform is also seeing an increase in requests from law enforcement agencies for information related to criminal investigations.
