Why Is It Important To Send Crypto Correctly?

Welcome back everyone. Today I want to talk about the importance of paying extra attention to details when you are sending crypto from one wallet to another wallet. I can not stress enough how important this is.

Just a couple of hours ago I reminded myself how important this matter really is when I winded up sending $15.90 BCH to BTC wallet on Coinbase. Yeah, I said it. I messed up, fortunately for myself it was just $20 but when you are struggling financially like myself $15 can mean a lot.

Unfortunately for others in the Crypto World that have lost hundreds to thousands dare I say millions of dollars to simple mistakes made by becoming complacent when sending Crypto. Complacent means that you have gotten so used to the process that you do it almost without thinking, putting yourself in danger A.K.A at risk.

I have made simple transfers like this transaction earlier. VIEW THE TRANSACTION HERE I don't know how many times I have done this simple task. I go to my BCH Wallet and send money to my Coinbase Wallet where I hold the majority of my BCH. I usually access my Coinbase APP and than copy my BCH address and paste it into my BCH Wallet APP and slide the bar to send it.

I had become complacent in doing so. Thankfully I have always stuck with my number 1 rule of not sending larger amounts of crypto until the initial test transaction has been posted correctly.

You may not really think about it, especially if you are use to the standard FIAT systems. FIAT systems can be forgiving where as Crypto is not as forgiving. I know I say all the time how I love Coinbase but when you accidentally send your BCH to BTC the last place you want to make that mistake at is any exchange or wallet where you do not own the SEED PHRASE.

The SEED PHRASE is one of the most important aspects of Crypto. A simple seed phrase can mean the difference between losing $15.90 or simply correcting an error.

Where Did I Go Wrong?

I think we have all been in situations in like where we wind up asking ourselves this very question. I know some of us hate to be critical of ourselves but I am probably the biggest critic that I have. I like to go back and analyze my mistakes and learn from them in order to prevent similar mistakes from taking place in the future for myself.

I went into my CoinBase APP while being complacent and click on Portfolio, BCH (which is what I sincerely believed) and then I copied that address. I then went back to my BCH Wallet and pasted that address and slid the bar over to send $15.90

After I completed that I went back to Coinbase and seen the BTC symbol beside the wallet address I had just copied after selecting BCH. Now had I taken my time and does this transaction a little bit differently I would probably not be writing this exact same article right now.

I should have got on my Laptop and pulled up my Coinbase account and from their pulled up the QR code for my BCH Wallet on Coinbase. Than I could have scanned the QR code with BCH Wallet APP on my phone and I probably would still have that money. I can't say for a fact that would have resolved this issue.

I know I had done similar transactions like this one so many times that it has become like a natural reflex. Kinda like driving a car or riding a bike. The more you do simple task the less your mind has to divert your full attention to doing simple task.

In other words "Complacent" when we become complacent whether it be in the work place or transferring money between Crypto Wallets we make ourselves vulnerable. Unfortunately this result in injuries or in my case a loss of funds.

The Hidden Mistake?

I just covered the obvious mistake that I have made. The hidden mistake is probably the biggest mistake that I made in this situation. I would guess that most of you already know how BCH exist, if not I am going to sum it up real quick for you.

BCH is a fork away from BTC itself. So, that means that even though I made a uh-oh I could have saved those funds if only I would not have sent them to CoinBase A.K.A an exchange.

Now if I had the Seed Phrase I could of imported that wallet using the seed phrase into my BCH Wallet APP and then transferred those funds to the correct wallet address that I wanted them at to begin with.

That is why I call it The Hidden Mistake. For the most part if you send Crypto to the wrong Crypto you have just lost that crypto permanently. Since I have sent my BCH to a BTC address on an exchange I have basically just lost those funds permanently.

Although Coinbase having access to that Seed Phrase since it is a custodial account could reverse the transaction for me. I seriously doubt they will take the time but for the purpose of this article I have contacted Coinbase with the issue to see what type of response that they are willing to offer in regards to the situation.

I am not counting on them doing anything to reverse the situation. That will lower my opinion greatly about Coinbase but no matter what as long as they continue giving away free Crypto I will continue to use their Wallet partially.

How To Avoid The Same Mistakes?

Always double check the wallet addresses to ensure you have selected the correct wallets. You can also avoid sending funds to an exchange and only send funds to wallets that you own the seed phrase to.

I know it is practically impossible to operate in the Crypto World without utilizing an exchange. We have so many options that does not require giving custodial custody over to an exchange. For instances you can use sites like UNI-SWAP

Exchanges are good for earning interest on certain crypto's and the obvious of being able to exchange crypto for other crypto. Going forward in the future after the fork I will only be holding Crypto in my Trezor Wallet and in interest earning accounts such as but not limited to BlockFi, ETORO, NEXIO and BiTrue.

You should always consider send out an initial small transaction in order to limit your risk. Had I sent an initial transaction of $1 or under I would have immediately caught my mistake, fixed it and only had lost $1 instead of the $15.90 I intended on storing at CoinBase.

Which to be technical CoinBase has access to those funds. Whether or not they will access the funds and transfer them to my BCH Wallet is to be determined in future correspondence with CoinBase Tech Support. I am not hopeful. I am in fact already counting this as a loss.

My Final Thoughts

I know personally when this type of mistake happens it is really hard not to beat yourself up about it, especially if you just lost a whole lot of money by doing so. It can be really frustrating. Just don't be so hard on yourself. We are all humans and we all make mistakes.

We have to learn from our mistakes and share them within our community in order to spread awareness and hopefully save some one else the frustration of being where I am at right now.

It is extremely important to understand the type of crypto you are sending and where you are sending it to. Different crypto requires different information in order to send properly. For example Stellar needs a Memo ID along with a wallet address in order to send properly.

Most of the time when you send crypto to the wrong wallet it could be lost forever. However with some research you may be able to recover those funds provided you own the seed phrase to the wallets. A non exchange wallet is the best solution in circumstances it would of saved all of my funds.

I will still continue to use CoinBase regardless of the outcome. I can not just turn away free crypto. CoinBase has given me well over $300 in free crypto in the little over 3 years that I have had my coinbase wallet. I can't complain about free money but going forward from today all my funds that are just collecting dust will be on an offline hardware wallet that I own the seed phrases to.

I hope this article helps you avoid the same type of mistake that I made. Just remember that Crypto mistakes are not that forgiving. Always double check your information and to be safe and lower your risk always send an initial test transaction to verify your information is correct before sending the full amount whenever possible.

As always I would thank you for reading and following me. God Bless You and Stay Healthy!