Crypto exchange, Coinbase, has launched a new self-service asset recovery tool. This tool will enable the recovery of unsupported ERC-20 tokens sent by mistake and is also designed to recover approximately 4,000 unsupported ERC-20 tokens.
Announcing this in a Twitter post, Coinbase stated the self-service tool makes asset recovery very easy while protecting the private keys for customer deposit addresses.
Therefore, if a user mistakenly sends unsupported tokens to their Coinbase addresses, the exchange will help them recover the tokens. However, a fee will be charged for this.
When users mistakenly send unsupported tokens to their Coinbase address, funds are not registered on the Coinbase ledger.
Hence, the assets become unrecoverable since the exchange cannot access the private keys required to reverse the transaction. This issue has been resolved with the new ERC-20 self-service asset recovery tool.
For eligible assets, you can recover mistakenly sent funds and transfer them to your Coinbase wallet or any self-custodial wallet you own. The only requirement is your Ethereum TXID for the transaction where the asset was lost and your Coinbase wallet address for the lost asset.
According to a statement by Coinbase,
“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. 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.“
Some eligible assets for recovery are a selection of ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum base layer, such as wETH, TUSD, and StETH.
Coinbase stated this tool differentiates it from other exchanges because it is the first major exchange to offer ERC-20 token recoveries while preserving customer deposit addresses' security.
