Accidentally Sent BCH from Bitcoin to BTC Wallet on Coinbase, HELP!

[Ajpolo8]

I accidentally sent BCH from Bitcoin to BTC Wallet on Coinbase and though the BCH left Bitcoin 3 days ago, it has not arrived at Coinbase yet because I chose the BTC wallet address as the receiving address instead of the BCH wallet address. Does this transaction ultimately just get kicked out or is there a way to recover it now? Please advise.

[nandibear]

I accidentally sent BCH from Bitcoin to BTC Wallet on Coinbase and though the BCH left Bitcoin 3 days ago, it has not arrived at Coinbase yet because I chose the BTC wallet address as the receiving address instead of the BCH wallet address. Does this transaction ultimately just get kicked out or is there a way to recover it now? Please advise.

Hi Ajpolo8,

What you've done (based on what you've stated) is send BCH to a BCH address which is identical to your BTC address at Coinbase. You'll have to contact Coinbase and ask them about their cross chain recovery policy. However, they may not be willing to help you.

If you look up the address that you sent to you'll see your BCH at that address: https://explorer.bitcoin.com/bch

Private keys on both chains (BCH and BTC) are the same so if the same scenario would have happened in a wallet that you control the private key to you'd just import the BTC private key into your BCH wallet.

[Ajpolo8]

Please explain how private keys work, how I might gain access to them? I sent from my BCH wallet on the Bitcoin app to my BTC wallet on Coinbase, so I should have control of both sides of the transaction.

[Ciaran]

Hi Ajpolo8,

Your private keys are used to restore your wallet should anything happen to it or the device it is run on. Once you have your private keys you have full control over your funds. Unfortunately I believe Coinbase do not supply their users with their private keys as all the funds are hosted on their website.

I would suggest contacting them anyway and inform them what has happed, they may have some sort of protocol in place to retrieve the funds for you.

You can access your 12 word recovery phrase on your Bitcoin.com wallet by following these steps:

1 Go to Settings

2 Select the wallet you wish to back up, BTC or BCH

3 Select "Backup," make sure that nobody else can see your screen, and tap "Got it." Enter your spending password if prompted.

4 Your 12 word recovery phrase will be displayed reading from left to right, top to bottom

5 Write down the words on a sturdy piece of paper. You don't want to go to access your backup a year down the road only to find that the paper has smudged and you can't read the phrase.

6 Once you have written down all 12 words tap on "I've written it down" and re-enter the words back in the same order you wrote them down in to confirm you have them in the correct order.

7 Enter your password again if required and press ok. If you have followed all instructions correctly this will now say "Your bitcoin wallet is backed up" Read the warning and tap "got it"

8 Your Bitcoin.com Wallet is backed up!

9 Make sure to store the piece of paper someplace you know for certain it will be safe. Treat it as a very valuable possession, and store it with other such documents as birth certificates, passports, real estate titles, etc.

Please read our **[Getting Started](https://www.bitcoin.com/getting-started/)** section to learn more about Bitcoin, how it works and how to use it.

You may also find our **[FAQ section](https://www.bitcoin.com/faq)** and **[Wallet FAQ](https://walletsupport.bitcoin.com/)** pages very useful.