Coinbase Expands Asset Recovery Tool To BNB Smart Chain, Polygon

Coinbase expanded its asset recovery tool that has helped users recover millions worth of funds to users of BNB Smart Chain and Polygon, a move that will help users of some unsupported tokens to recover funds mistakenly sent to their Coinbase addresses.

"To help make onchain recovery easier, we have upgraded our ERC-20 self-service asset recovery tool to support recovering assets on not just Ethereum, but BNB Smart Chain and Polygon as well," the cryptocurrency exchange said in a statement Tuesday.

The tool promises a safe and simple way for crypto users to recover "almost 3,000 unsupported ERC-20 tokens mistakenly sent to Coinbase addresses via BNB Smart Chain and 800 sent via Polygon," the statement said.

For recovering their funds, customers should provide the transaction ID for the transaction where the eligible asset was lost, and the inbound Coinbase address where it was mistakenly sent to.

Coinbase's tool can move unsupported digital assets directly from an inbound Coinbase address to the user's self-custodial wallet without exposing private keys.

In the past, users who accidentally sent unsupported tokens through an unsupported chain were unable to recover such funds. However, Coinbase's asset recovery tool has helped over 10,000 users recover more than $160 million worth of funds so far since the tool was launched late in 2022, Coinbase product manager Vignesh Muralidharan told The Block.

Coinbase, which launched the recovery tool in December 2022 to support Ethereum, acknowledged that mistakenly sent assets account for only a small fraction of total cryptocurrency transfers. However, such cases have brought frustration to some users due to the lack of a clear timeline regarding the recovery of such funds.

"Our goal with this tool is to ease some of these frustrations and make onchain recovery easier to improve the customer experience," Muralidharan said.

The exchange also said it intends to continue implementing upgrades to the tool since not all unsupported tokens are eligible for recovery. Furthermore, it noted that the eligibility of tokens is subject to change.

It also reminded customers to exercise due diligence and "determine the authenticity, safety, and security of both the assets they choose to recover and BNB Smart Chain itself." Coinbase does not cater to BNB Smart Chain but it supports the Polygon chain.