Topic: What can be done to stop loss sending to wrong bitcoin address (Read 636 times)

I fully agree with what you said, I mean, if you get hacked or you got a malware on your PC, you may lose your bitcoin funds. There's a lot of ways, like for example when you would like to send some bitcoin to an address, the address will change automatically without even noticing it, otherwise even if you type your address wrong and was a typo you'll be safe because the system only send bitcoin to only valid addresses.

I've seen once someone sends me few bitcoin but then he was able to cancel it before the first verification, which it's one of the ways you could do if you send your bitcoin to a wrong address, but I don't know how he did that exactly.

I agree, that is too hassle, and a lot of work just for someone to make sure his bitcoin is safe. We don't need this kind of thing as a precaution to prevent losing our bitcoins, we should discipline ourselves to be responsible for everything and we have to be sure that when we are making a move or having a transaction, we have to be accurate and focus to avoid accidentally sending it to the wrong bitcoin address, double checking as always will help, actually.

You mean to have a history once we have done with our transaction, and if we ever gonna send another transaction to the same address, there won't be the need for us to copy and paste the same address but to browse the history and create another transaction? You can already do that since we always have a transaction history in our wallet, but the thing is you just have to manually find the same address where you can find it more convenient if you just copy and paste again.

Since Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies as well) is a peer-to-peer method of transaction, there is no middle man involved and in control of the transaction, there's no way you can retrieve your money once you send it. Cryptocurrencies and the Blockchain has no Central control unit, users are the ones that have the control over their transactions, so once you send your Bitcoin to someone there is no way you can retrieve it.

Unless maybe wallet providers will add a feature that will delay transactions from being sent once users click the send button, so that maybe if they have sent to the wrong address and then realize that within a few minutes, they can go back and cancel it and re-enter the right address. But that is still of no use. It's up to you to be careful, if you are careless you will end up losing your money, as simple as that.

To satisfy the issue, rather than sending bitcoin to address even in QR or copy and pasting the wallet address. If we already sent an amount to that particular address then we should take into consideration that looking on the transaction history and making a transaction will be more secure on it rather than inputting the address again and scanning the QR. In other ways, the developers should also consider making a payment profile to easily send bitcoin to particular address with just one click without risking on some clipboard scams and hacking.

I think you cannot undone or cancel it when you already have sent a bitcoin to the wrong bitcoin address, that is why there are a lot of incidents in the past years that they submitted their bitcoin in a wrong address. It is also the reason why mobile crypto wallets started to create QR codes to avoid submitting a bitcoin and altcoin to the wrong address.

If you use Myetherwallet to send tokens or Ethereum to any wallet, then there is still the opportunity to cancel the transaction until the first confirmation is received.  Of course, this is very rare if you do not follow the transaction.  But in relation to other cryptocurrencies, I doubt that such an opportunity exists.  And here I really support you, because you correctly say that everyone should be attentive to the use of cryptocurrency, and even more so when making financial transactions.

Bitcoin and altcoin sending transaction payment are not the same with other digital currency payment when sending, some digital currency can refund and failed for transaction if using wrong address or email payment like PayPal and Payza, but for bitcoin is never have refund and cancel sending payment after you click withdrawal or sending your bitcoin, keep stop loss sending to wrong bitcoin address only double check your bitcoin wallet address.

It is indeed one of the thing we should do but sometimes people are just too lazy to even double check the addresses before sending it. SO if they loses their bitcoin because of the wrong address, they'll come asking for help what to do and how to get their bitcoin back. But if you really just check it before hand, you wouldn't lose bitcoin. The problem is that we become so confident because we don't lose bitcoin that's why we also become careless sometimes.

Of course you have nothing to do with the sent bitcoin to wrong account. These platforms should develop and improve their service that give solutions to human error.

Double checking address is most common solution but, having an easy to remember address is much more essential to avoid wrong addresses.

Short addresses are enough for someone to easily send money without hassle. So QR is also good for the more secure transferring of money.

Checking address four or five times before sending anything, with no rush

and weve seen many people experience this things. As long as there are people victimised by malware this will continue  the only way to be carfeul to always double the address you want to send money always.

I think is responsibility of the people to verify they are sending the coins to the right address. I know tons of coins have been lost this way, but even if you create the more secure system people could still failing with a simple copy-paste.

The good news is that every time a user send btc to the wrong addy, he learn the leason and he will not that mistake again.

That's right, doing double checks is the most effective way than just entrusting the work to the machine alone. I trust my eyes more, even though there are other things that are easier, but they are easily manipulated by fraudsters or hackers, right? Copy-paste alone can be manipulated by a virus so that the address that we are aiming for can be changed automatically to the fraudster's wallet. I once mistakenly entered my wallet to withdraw, instead of entering my wallet address, I even entered the wallet contract address. Luckily the developer wants to return my token. It was a very valuable experience, and since then I have always checked repeatedly to ensure that the address entered is correct.

Nope, they can't access your wallet unless you allow them intentionally or unintentionally because if you don't download anything that a bit suspicious on the Internet then there is no way that hacker can access your computer. Many of the victims unintentionally download a malware that results to losing funds especially if the victim didn't double check. That's why having a strong security on your computer is essential to keep your funds safe.

Being cautious and careful about the address in sending bitcoin is really essential to avoid losing bitcoin. But sometimes even though we are careful enough there are hackers who can hack your account and after copying the address, when you paste it, it'll change without you noticing it. Hackers really are doing all the things they can do just to get other people's money.
Just like you, I'm always careful and thankfully, this also never happened to me before.

I think what is meant is when he already sent to the wrong address, how to stop or maybe cancel it, I think bitcoin does not have that feature after we send it to the wrong address our money is lost. not like PayPal or bank. but what you are explaining it is just anticipation to not experience mistakes in sending to wrong Bitcoin addresses.

We know that if we already send the bitcoin in the address there is no way we could get it back unless if it doesn't send in the blockchain sometimes if there is no much traffic in the blockchain it will be cancelled but it rarely happened, From that, we should be careful enough before sending the bitcoin in the address also before allowing the sender to send the bitcoin in the address a lot of bitcoin wallet already have the details and allowing you to check the bitcoin address where you wanted it to send it was already your fault if you are too lazy to check the address.

This never happened to me I think if you are just careful enough you could protect and never get mistake especially in sending bitcoin,
They could develop a double-check address in sending Bitcoin in the wallet other than that you could just use the QR code so that it will never be mistaken the bitcoin address you wanted it to be sent.

That's right, actually when the news spread that there are some issues who are mistakenly send some bitcoin on the wrong bitcoin address, I am always double check the bitcoin address if it is right or wrong bitcoin address because sometimes I am just copy the bitcoin address and paste it when I am sending some bitcoin to other people but right now using the coins.ph I will just send it via qr code or double checking the bitcoin address if it is right or not. I never tried to type the bitcoin address because it is very common to mistype the bitcoin address and etc. so better if we will be careful about that.

Honestly, it is very simple to stop sending bitcoin to a wrong bitcoin address is by double or triple checking their bitcoin address or you can also used a QR code when you are using a mobile crypto wallet to avoid mistyping the address and more convenience in sending a payment.

Genius! And a lot of common sense which has become so rare these days when availability of information is exploding and technologies are sprouting. I am always doing even a triple check whenever I am sending something no matter how small or big. And this of course from checking the possibility of malware attack. People in the world of cryptocurrency should always be educated as far as being careful otherwise there would be a big chance of becoming another victim statistics.

Using mobile wallet and scan QR codes is best way how to protect your sending bitcoin without use wrong wallet address, but for sender have use mobile phone and receiver can show his QR codes, I think this way never have chance although little with wrong information wallet address for sending bitcoin and you can received faster than send by using bitcoin wallet address.

Another thing is to use mobile wallets that can scan QR codes. That way, when you scan, you get the address as provided by the merchant or receiver.

You should still double check the first few characters to see if it matches.

There is a possibility that clipboard malware may use similar looking first characters, but I have not seen any that use the last characters, so double checking the first 5 and the last 5 should cover you.

Some time your computer can be error with paste wrong wallet because your device have been get firewall, before sending your token and bitcoin better double check or paste your wallet first on notepad than you paste with your sending address, I think when paste with notepad you can see full is the same with your destination wallet sending or not, after use wrong wallet you can't cancel it like other digital payment.

If 10 characters of a bank account number is easy to check, then it should be equally easy to check any 10 characters of the bitcoin address you are sending to. Either the first 10, the last 10, or even the first 5 and the last 5 combined.

You don't need to check the whole 30+ characters.

You need to do much more than this. You should setup F2A or email and then carefully read where the coins are going and how many. Double triple quadruple check the address is correct.
You take so long to earn your bitcoins so you don't want to throw them all away in a few seconds. Take as long as you need when making transactions. Saving a few moments not checking things is not worth it.
You do need discipline using crypto, not everyone likes that about crypto and I feel it is one of the reasons people might not want to use it. Fear of losing their money if they buy crypto doing something silly like sending to the wrong address.

Looks like the OP's suggestions aren't quite right. Transfer error due to incorrect entering the wallet address is a technical error from the sender, whether intentionally or not, we should always double check before sending it. Check the manual, overall, don't just look at the beginning or the end. It is better.

I think people should know what is bitcoin, how it works and they must know since first time if the transaction are not reversible. Maybe with that, we can see maybe a lot of people agree to re-check again recipient address which they want to send the coin. I think who keep get that because not be careful, and it is their own mistake.

Looks like you never had a bank transfer in your life  . Welcome to the normal world and that is how things work here, if you have a job your salary will be credited through the bank and there is no point in hating the banking system, i have taken loans from them and i do not complain them and as long as i follow the rule i am fine with it.
There is a major difference between a centralized banking system and a decentralized economy and in the latter you cannot make a mistake because once the coin is gone from your account then there is no way you can retrieve that.

Of course, you are right but in the case of negligence (most common reason of sending t the wrong address) this is possibly the only potential countermeasure, as transactions are not reversible.

Rather then focusing on technological solution to this. Biggest mitigation measures lies within us

certainly, all the Bitcoin Improvement Proposals are available on GitHub under the "bitcoin" username. and here is the direct link to BIP-70 that i mentioned here:
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0070.mediawiki
BitPay is a payment process that i know of that has implemented this technique.

There is no cure to human error. No matter how much advancement in technology has been made.
The worst part is you cant undo the transaction once you sent bitcoin to wrong address.
The only solution to this is mentioned in above reference post. Stay safe everyone.

That is sound complicated I think. Simple problem requires simple solution, it is not that tough to double check the address where you will send it to. In my long time here in crypto industry I haven't experience any problem in making transactions because I do check first the address to prevent of losing profit. You could just copy and paste the address then check it first before hit the send button.

Here you are entirely wrong and way way wrong. Privacy for bitcoin is one thing and it cannot be taken away unless a user decided to attach a name or whatever, but creating a verification system has and will never have nothing to do with attaching one's name to a transaction, its just verification and requires no name to take place.

You have an address signed by you don't you, why do you have one? For fun, you should think again, flaws is for idea and production is where the real work suppose to  work without flaws, ideas are given to be developed and input added and if your input is that there will never be a verification system to improve the current system for safer usage of bitcoin then you are way out of your bitcoin mind. I accept your critics but its totally baseless.

This is the easiest as of now, but theoretically more comfortable would be the introduction of a system a bit similar to confirmation of transaction in banking apps by providing a code which is unique to a specific wallet address, so then in case of mistyping address transaction will not get through.

As said we the users are responsible for our funds. When we make a transaction we need to know that we're transacting our funds. Here we need to have additional concentration which will make people avoid such mistakes. As described there are malwares that auto paste different addresses and this happens with untrusted service renders. With trusted wallet services there is no such flaws. Anyhow double checking helps in keeping our funds secure.

No. It's plain wrong. Bitcoin is about changing addresses from payment to payment. That's for privacy and maybe some extra security too. An user should not "call in" an link his name to an address.

I wanted to help you understand that your idea, although it was some work on it, will not work, it has still flaws on it. Trying to find fixes while we talk will not do, since you seem to go from bad to worse.
Try to give it time and think it over again. For now, in this form, it's not good.

Seriously. If people simply just double-checked the receiving address every time they make a transaction, we wouldn't have this problem.

You sent wrongfully, at least it was not much to hurt you so much financially, imagine you was trying to buy a house that cost 300,000USD and you just lost it in one go, it is not that you are not careful, this things happen and they happn to even the best of the best too, your computer is secure, anti virus updated, no penetration but yet it can still happen, people go to long length to make this happen, so its better safe than sorry.

How do we explain to every new users this way, old ladies, children, then it will seem that this new money is harder than the banks, so why use it. Adding it to the rule of btc will seem like a job to many who would say i am better of with banks.

Double checking is very necessary but reducing the risk to accommodate all is also essential

Really. I mean was though with some Mr A or Mr B but that's nice thanks

This part i clarified too, the protocol must not be based on the amount, sender and receivers address can be the protocol, senders enables protocol based on the address and receiver does the same, so as long as this protocol is used to send between both of them bitcoins will arrive ok, else bitcoin will be returned to the sender.

The problem is many people don't seem to double-check the address they typed before even confirming the transaction. Yes, I get it that there is some malware that automatically pastes something in the address but that can easily be avoided simply by double-checking.

Is there a post for this you can refer me to, this sounds great, i will need to read more.

Yes i thought of this, fees might make it less and other factors too, that is why i said that a protocol with the senders address, the senders address might just be what the receivers protocol  is looking for to accept payment, something like senders address white-listed to receive payment and senders has the protocol to see if the receivers wallet  is waiting for payment from his/her address. This is not messy it is just for those that want the easy way, pros still use the the same way but with this way those shifting from banks will find an easy adjustments.

I came across to a project that tries to resolve the problem of sending funds. If I am not mistaken it is called digital names ( some sort of that) they aim to change the alphanumeric addresses to a new and customize addresses. But I think that project didn't get enough ( I don't know, since I have'nt heard of them ) I guess the purpose seems to be clear but it is complicated. I once wrongfully sent my funds to the wrong address, honestly it is embarassing at first but that's the time I learned my lesson to double check, best if triple check the information especially the address of the recipient.

Shorter bitcoin address would mean all the bitcoin addresses will be taken up by the users quickly. As many of us own more than one bitcoin address so it will also cause problem for the users. I suggest no protocol changes should be made withing bitcoin. As sending bitcoin to a wrong address is something just because of a user's fault, so the user should double check the transaction before sending it and also what I do is double check the starting and ending of the address as it ensures that I am sending to the correct address and till now I haven't sent my bitcoins to a wrong address.

Using shorter addresses are much effective in sending and obtaining money from the wallet. It is very important because it helps you to prevent losses and be comfortable with your accounts. Easy to remember wallet address is more noticeable and very quite safe.

Always double check first the wallet address that you're going to send to.

i think what you are describing is a lot like what BIP70 is proposing.
it is some sort of encryption communication between the server (receiver of the payment) and the customer (sender) to get the address required for the payment. it solves the middle man attack problem (MITM) since it is using SSL encryption and the websites certificate and eliminates the need for copy pasting addresses so the clipboard hijackers may not work there.

What is suggesting makes absolutely no sense.

No one should have to give any authorization to receive money, only to send. This is how it always worked out in Fiat currency as well

If the user is careless and sends money to any address without verifying, it is solely his fault and he loses the money . There is nothing no one can do.

What you are suggesting, authorization to receive money, causes so many problems that it is not worth mentioning.
How would donations work? There would be so much more congestion cause there will be those transactions going back and forth...

Bad idea.

I'm doing this even if I'm drunk and so far I didn't make any mistakes on transferring my bitcoin because we are talking about money here and when it comes to money we should be more wise on spending it and we have to be strict on that. In one mistake you can loss everything and that's the reason why we need to be more responsible, and don't transfer any funds to unfamiliar address. Also if you just copy and paste the address, you'd better to confirm it first before you transact. 

I always check the address before sending my bitcoin and it was like checking the whole day before sending it especially if its a big amount of bitcoin.

My suggestion is that, don't make any bitcoin transactions if you're drunk, not in the mood or feeling sleepy because you might skip checking it and you might put a wrong address. Also ask the receiver if the address is correct, any mistake can lead to a big cost of losing your money.

There was a virus from the copy/paste method and it's called Clipboard Hacking Technique, once you copied a BTC address it pasted a different BTC address. I think this is one of the reasons why many people sent their BTC to the wrong address. the most important thing to prevent this problem is to double-check the BTC address where you about to send the BTC. This is where most people failed because some of them are lazy even to check if its the right one or not. therefore when we are introducing Bitcoin to some new people, we need to add this thing to the rule of BTC. like rule no.2 double-check the BTC address where you about to send your BTC to.

You can read more info about the copy/paste malware here: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/avoid-clipboard-hacking-5207436

The amount does not always match the "expectation". Just imagine that somebody wants to pay some extra, just imagine that somebody does 2 partial payments, what if it's a donation address? What will Mr B do then?

This is a reply when you see today for bitcoin, when you look at the bigger picture we look to be better than the present banks while being our own bank, not double checking a long address, a bank account is 10 digit long where i am and i know most other places too, 10 digits is so easy to double check, we are looking to accommodate everyone and not specific people, btc is no longer a dream, it has crossed that dream line and becoming a very very realistic reality

"Yaya, an IBAN is way long too" but then again BIC required, much protocols and bank controlled.

Good point with checksum this works well and it is a very powerful step to show that much more can be done.
There are many different ways for attack but we can also reduce this many different ways too.
Malware will intercept unless someone or a middle man has physical access to the senders phone or computer and in this case no one is to blame.

Mr B do not need to sit all day to check if it arrives to allow it, he just has to open the protocol that there is bitcoin expected, the btc can be sent 20 days later but as long as the protocol has been set by Mr B when ever this amount is coming in from Mr A it automatically accepts  and comes through, let's say like a monthly salary that goes through money to your bank account and this will not be for shops, shops do have a way to scan for payments via phone which is very safe to do, this works mostly for direct payment to a bitcoin address.

if a hacker hacks a cell phone from a child it is the same as we hold cash, it is more dangerous when cash because in many cases they rob by killing to eliminate traces, while online theft for example hackers can actually be avoided by teaching many things how to protect their money is really good so it's not easy to be accessed by hackers, but it's a bit hard if bitcoin is used as a payment tool in the future, still not sure because many countries and governments are still against it, so just wait for their country to go bankrupt or crisis severe

What's that suspicious link that was removed from your post,OP
Are you trying to promote something?
The problem with sending btc to wrong addresses will continue forever,but there's a solution.
It's called "double checking the address before sending any BTC".
It's genius,isn't it.

most of the ways that users could send to a wrong address involve having a malware on their computer, in which case these users are also susceptible to a lot of different attacks and can lose their money in much easier ways than simply sending to a wrong unintended address. your solution is also not going to solve anything, the same malware can intercept the communication between A and B and change the address to its own.

other ways that involve user typing in a wrong address are already protected by the checksum that each address has in place which means they won't be able to pay to a wrong address because of typos.

I may have missed something however, it's not clear how this could help.
Clearly Mr B will not spend time checking if money is about to come and allow it, it would be a huge overload for shops, for example.
So an automation will have to be done in a way or another. And this makes all that workflow useless.

But, for the sake of discussion, let's say the automation is not done.
What stops the sender be careless twice when sending out the money?

Never supported banks/Financial Institution although it's cut from an easy cloth then ruled by people known as the government, track and trace us like we are some courier shipment but then again the one perfect thing they have is the ability to see the other end via communication, able to retrieve wrong transfers or sent to wrong account which is something that does not happen often in the banking system.

There should be a way to actually create a stop send if the receiving  address does not exist or does  not actually belong to the intended recipient, bitcoin is built better and it's ability to prevent charge backs makes it even more perfect and we all own control to our address except for those that decides to give the power over to exchangers by storing their coins there.

A step should be taken to make it easy for bitcoin to become acceptable everywhere by everyone old and young, there should be a safeguard because right now those of us that use cryptos know to some extent how to walk around the system, what the wallet is, what a btc address is, private keys and public keys but there are millions out there that do not want to get involved for the fear that they will lose their money, their coins, either to scammers, hackers or clumsiness, we all heard the story of people losing their computer and bitcoin along with it, others forgetting their passwords, this makes bitcoin scary to lots of people and because of the news they never want to get involved.

We should be working a system that makes this easy for this new comers, with too many recent technology coming out the days and very much advanced from finger print phone system to free phone cloud system dedicated free to phone owners we should work out a way to safe guard bitcoin better than it is right now, a system in the cloud that calls back bitcoin from anywhere using more than a finger print, a system  that will be able to search and locate your bitcoin using certain protocol regardless if your phone is lost computer damaged, password forgotten without having the knowledge of private keys, public keys and many others, a way for a working mom  to see through and get her bitcoin back without needing tech support, this is not all.

Bitcoin sent to wrong address because of the copy and past malware can be avoided, maybe a system that checks two ways to see that the btc is being sent to the intended recipient and if the address happens not to be existing and yet the bitcoin manages to enter the network  instead of being lost forever or taking unspecified time to return back to the sender address  there should somehow be a way to have a force push back to the senders address maybe within 3 working days  at most, this will at least give people rest of mind when dealing with btc, sending to the wrong address right now means btc lost forever and this thought scares lots of people and this is one of the major reasons lot's of less computer skilled people tend to avoid bitcoin at all cost.

A 2 way check system can be this way,
I- Mr A about to send Bitcoin to Mr B using protocol safe
II- Mr B opens a allow protocol safe using either senders address or generates an option notifying incoming bitcoin to his wallet and amount
III- Mr A Sends bitcoin to Mr B
III- Mr A protocol checks to see if Mr B's protocol is expecting and if Yes, [Suspicious link removed]ives Mr B, if not bitcoin goes back to Mr A.

Lets say the copy and paste malware attacked and changed address while Mr A paste to the system then btc will be returned and no harm.

This goes the same to for sending to the wrong address, there can also be an option to notify the address owner that bitcoin was wrongly sent to you, reply or return at least we won't have to say maybe the owner of the wallet did not realize  someone sent his btc mistakenly.

This are just examples and there is much more, but my reason for getting this to our attention is because this is a real issue, if bitcoin is to be the currency our kids will use it too, our grand mothers will too, they will have to buy grocery with it someday, pay for taxi rides, buy houses and more, so it is time we start thinking on how to make it easy so even our young kids in High school and below will be able to buy lunch in school using bitcoin and not losing access to their bitcoin or losing the family entire savings because a hacker got access to the kids phone and wiped the whole family our of their precious money, that will be very bad publicity for the image of bitcoin.

Please share your thoughts, i have a'lot to say but i figured an easy read is better and we all get our head together to make this work, it will also be a multi million idea for someone who has the resources to do such a system,i for one don't have that kind of  resources to make this work but many users on this forum do have that kind of resources and i encourage that they think deeper more than i have to create something better than banks so that bitcoin will be accepted faster and everyone will feel safe around it.