How to get cryptocurrency back when coins are sent to Binance via the wrong network
It happens that users send assets to the wrong blockchain or wallet address. We have already reported about a user who lost 5,000 USDT because he did not know that checksum verification is disabled when an Ethereum address is written in upper or lower case letters only. This means that the wallet cannot check whether the address is valid or not.
When you make a deposit or effect a withdrawal from your Binance account, you need to select the supporting network through which you are sending the cryptocurrency. If you select the wrong network, the coins will be sent to a non-existent wallet from which it will be impossible to get the money back.
In this article, you will learn what to do if you made a mistake in wallet address or blockchain network and how to get cryptocurrency back.
Characteristics of the address formats in blockchains
Depending on the type of cryptocurrency you want to send, it is important to choose the right network that supports that wallet. When working with cryptocurrencies, you may encounter nuances that we will discuss in this article. Even if the addresses are the same, the blockchains are different. For example, the Binance exchange uses the same address format for ETH, BNB and tokens on the Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain networks.
You cannot transfer assets directly from one decentralized network to another without a special blockchain bridge, e.g. Binance Bridge. Therefore, it is important that you have the same blockchain network as specified in your crypto wallet.
Note: Ethereum (ETH) and Binance Smart Chain (BNB), for example, have the same address format. This is because the development of the BSC network is based on the Ethereum blockchain. So if you send BNB coins to your Ethereum wallet that does not support the BSC network, the coins will be lost.
When depositing and withdrawing from a Binance account, the exchange offers several network options to choose from. Let us illustrate this with the example of Ethereum:
Therefore, before sending cryptocurrency, check which network your wallet supports. If you are transferring coins to another exchange, select the same network and get the correct address.
Binance will automatically detect the network when you add an address and exclude invalid networks, except for ERC-20 and BEP-20 addresses that have the same format. This will work when replenishing the balance and withdrawing funds.
If you enter an incorrect wallet or other exchange account address when withdrawing coins, the application will most likely report an error, but you should not rely on it to do that since not all clients provide this function. The safest thing to do is to manually check the correctness of the address and the network being used to avoid mistakes.
How do I know which network my crypto wallet supports?
There is an easy way to do this: by using a list of digital assets. For example, if the crypto wallet supports the Ethereum blockchain, then ETH will be displayed in the list of cryptocurrencies, and BNB corresponds to an ERC-20 token with the ticker WBNB (Wrapped BNB). If your network is Binance Smart Chain, among the crypto assets you will see BNB and WETH (Wrapped Ethereum), respectively.
But when replenishing and withdrawing assets, pay attention to the following two points:
If you transfer ETH coins from the main Ethereum network to the Binance Smart Chain address or from the BSC network to Ethereum when you add funds to the Binance wallet, your coins will still be deposited, since the same addresses are used for both networks addresses. However, it’s best to check this first to be sure.
But upon withdrawal, your assets will burn if you send crypto assets to the wrong blockchain address and your crypto wallet does not support the required network with the same address.
Note: For Ethereum and BSC, the Trust Wallet provided by Binance generates the same addresses.
What to do if I have already sent coins from the wallet to the wrong address?
Consider 3 possible scenarios and their respective solutions:
1. Coins were sent to a wallet address that supports both Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain networks.
If that’s the case, everything is in order: the coins will go to the crypto wallet. You can transfer assets back to the balance of the exchange so that you can send them again, but this time to the right blockchain.
2. The coins were sent to a wallet address that only supports one of the selected networks: Ethereum or BSC.
ERC-20 and BEP-20 addresses are generated from a single private key or mnemonic. This means Ethereum coins are sent to the BSC network as BEP-20 tokens (WETH), and Binance Coin is sent to the Ethereum network as ERC-20 tokens (WBNB). The tokens will be in the crypto wallet but it will not be possible to use them on another network or transfer them directly. To verify the transaction, the corresponding blockchain explorers are used: Etherescan or Bscscan.
If you transferred assets to the wrong wallet, then simply import the private key into a crypto wallet that supports both Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain to restore access to crypto assets.
Alternatively, use the Binance Bridge to transfer assets from one blockchain to another. For that you need to do the following:
1. Connect the wallet by clicking the Connect button in the upper right corner of the screen.
2. Select which wallet you want to use to connect: MetaMask or Binance Chain Wallet. Then click Connect.
3. Specify the cryptocurrency or token, select which network you are transferring assets from, enter the amount, and click Next. Then follow the instructions.
Another option is to send coins back to your Binance account. Select the appropriate blockchain to receive an address and send assets to it. For example, choose the Binance Smart Chain if you want to fund your account with WETH tokens and then convert them to ETH.
After the deposit has been successfully completed, go to the Withdraw page, select the Ethereum network, enter the address and request the withdrawal of coins. After the miners confirm the transaction, the cryptocurrency will appear in the desired wallet
3. The coins have been sent to the cryptocurrency exchange wallet.
It is possible to recover assets only if you contact the support of the crypto exchange. But prepare in advance for the fact that your funds may be lost forever, and take measures to avoid similar situations in the future. It is advisable to choose exchanges that support the same address for the BSC and Ethereum blockchains so that there are no problems when adding funds to the account.
In some cases, you will be provided with assistance, and the exchange staff will transfer the private key from the wallet that contains your coins, but this may require an additional fee. Binance states that if you send crypto assets to the wrong address, you will not be provided with the private keys to the wallet and they will not be able to help you.
But this is unlikely: if you use modern wallets that support the Ethereum and BSC blockchains and generate BEP-20 and ERC-20 addresses from the same private key, then an error message will appear when sending to the wrong wallet address.
And if you just confuse the Ethereum network with Binance, the coins will certainly go to the balance of the exchange.
What if the ETH/BNB cryptocurrency was sent to an address other than ERC-20/BEP-20?
Do not panic! You will be happy to learn that transactions can be canceled in some cases. If you transferred ERC-20 assets from the wallet to the BSC or BEP-20 network via the Ethereum blockchain, there is a way out.
Important: keep in mind that it will be possible to cancel a transaction only if it has not yet been confirmed by miners, so you need to act as quickly as possible. Otherwise, your coins will be irretrievably lost. In this article, we wrote about how you can reverse an Ethereum transaction.
How do I cancel an unconfirmed transaction on Binance Smart Chain?
If you sent crypto assets using the BSC blockchain, it is also possible to cancel the transaction. But keep in mind that transactions on the Binance Smart Chain are confirmed much faster. Do the following:
- Copy your Smart Chain wallet address. Just don’t confuse it with the Binance Chain address that starts with BNB characters.
- Send 0 BNB to this address and increase the commission to get the new transaction confirmed faster.
- On the page with the details of the current transaction, go to the wallet settings and set the same value for the Nonce parameter as for the previous (unconfirmed) transaction.
- Send a transaction to the blockchain. If everything works out, the coins will go back to the wallet, and you will only spend a small amount on commission.
How to restore access to the assets in your wallet with support of Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain
Metamask and Trust Wallet support any of these blockchains, so it will be possible to regain access to the assets in any of them. The easiest way to do this is by using the Trust Wallet, since during the recovery process you can select the type of Multi-Coin Wallet and immediately restore the assets. The MetaMask wallet does not support the BSC network by default, so you will have to add it manually.
How to restore a wallet in Trust Wallet
1. Launch the mobile application, go to settings and select the Wallets section.
2. Click on the “+” icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
3. Click I already have a wallet.
4. Select Smart Chain, Multi-Coin Wallet, or Ethereum Wallet depending on your needs.
5. Choose how you will restore your wallet: using a seed phrase, a Keystore file, or a private key. Enter your wallet mnemonic password or private key and then click Import.
How to restore access to assets in a MetaMask wallet that supports only one blockchain: Ethereum or BSC
To import an Ethereum wallet, you just need to enter a seed phrase or a private key. The MetaMask plugin supports Ethereum by default. To restore the BSC wallet, you will need to add the Binance Smart Chain manually. Here’s how:
1. Download and install MetaMask crypto wallet if you haven’t used it before. The web client is available as a plugin and mobile application on iOS and Android platforms.
2. On the start page, click the Import Wallet button and then enter the mnemonic phrase or private key from the crypto wallet.
If you are already using the MetaMask wallet, click on the profile icon and select Create Account. After that, enter the backup passphrase/private key and click Import to complete the wallet recovery procedure.
3. Add the BSC network manually. Click on the drop-down list of blockchain networks and select Custom RPC.
Then enter the following values:
- Network Name: arbitrary
- URL: https://bsc-dataseed1.binance.org/
- Chain ID: 56
- Symbol: BNB
- Block Explorer URL: https://bscscan.com/
4. Add the correct token to the wallet asset list.
By default, only BNB will be displayed in the asset list. The rest of the tokens must be added manually. Go to the Bscscan website, and in the Tokens section select the required token and click on it. Then copy the address of the token contract: simply hover over it and click on the Copy icon.
Then, on the main MetaMask page, click Import Tokens.
Paste the previously copied BEP-20 token contract address and click Add Custom Token. Token Symbol and Token Decimal values will be pulled up automatically.
You have added the BSC network to the MetaMask crypto wallet. If coins or tokens were sent to the Binance Smart Chain blockchain they will be displayed in the crypto wallet.
Conclusion
You can easily recover funds that were erroneously sent to the wrong blockchain. If crypto assets are sent to a blockchain network that is other than Binance Smart Chain or Ethereum, then it will be possible to refund the funds only if the transaction is canceled.
In case the assets were transferred to the account of another crypto exchange, please contact the company’s support team to try to recover the crypto assets. But if you are not helped, your assets will be lost forever.
