I sent coins to the wrong address or the wrong network
Some of these are recoverable with effort and some are not. Which one it is depends entirely on who controls the destination.
- Find the transaction and confirm what actually happened Open the transaction hash in a block explorer and read the destination and the network. People frequently discover the transfer went somewhere different from what they assumed.
- Work out who controls the destination Your own address on an unexpected chain, an exchange's deposit address, a stranger's address, or a contract. That single question decides everything that follows.
- If it is your own address on another chain: it is retrievable The same keys control it. Add the network in your wallet, fund the fee asset, and the balance appears. Do this calmly — this case has no deadline.
- If it reached an exchange: open a ticket immediately Give the hash, the network, the asset, the amount and the timestamp. Some platforms recover wrong-network deposits for a fee, some only above a minimum, some not at all. Ask, do not assume.
- If it went to a stranger: there is no mechanism, only a request You can write to an address on some chains, and occasionally people return funds. Treat it as goodwill, not a process, and never pay anybody who offers to "negotiate" it.
- If it went to a contract that cannot move it: it is gone A token sent to a contract with no rescue function stays there permanently. No fee, no service and no lawyer changes that.
Why there is no cancel
A confirmed transaction is final by design. That property is the same one that stops anybody freezing your funds, and it does not have an exception for mistakes. What happens if you send to the wrong network is the short version.
If the address was not the one you copied
Then this may not have been a mistake at all: a lookalike planted in your history, or malware swapping the clipboard. Check the address you actually sent to against the one you meant, character by character, and read address mistakes — if it was a swap, the device needs attention before the next transfer.
Before the next transfer
A test amount and a saved whitelist entry. It costs a fee once and removes this entire page from your future.
Anyone who contacts you offering to recover this is the next thief
It follows losses within days, sometimes hours, and it copies the names of real firms, regulators and police units. Nobody legitimate finds you first. How the recovery scam works →
Last checked 19 Oct 2026. This page is procedure, not legal advice — what a report achieves depends on where you live.