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What happens if I send crypto to the wrong address?
A crypto payment generally cannot be reversed. Once it is confirmed, the coins belong to whoever controls the receiving address, and the only way back is for that person or business to send them back.
What it means for you
The US Federal Trade Commission puts it plainly: crypto payments typically are not reversible. If the address belongs to an exchange or a known business, contact them with the transaction hash; if it belongs to a stranger or a scammer, there is usually no recovery. Anyone promising to recover lost crypto for an upfront fee is very likely running a recovery scam.
How it works
No bank or card network stands behind a blockchain payment, so there is no chargeback and nobody with the power to undo it. A mistyped address usually fails the checksum built into address formats and is refused by the wallet, but a valid address belonging to someone else is accepted. Address poisoning scams rely on look-alike addresses copied from your history, so compare the whole address before sending, and send a small test amount first for large payments.
Sources: FTC: What to know about cryptocurrency and scams, EIP-55: Mixed-case checksum address encoding · checked 5 October 2026
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Educational content, not financial advice. Written by hand and checked against the source named above. Something wrong? Tell us and we reply within two business days.