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I made an exchange on Changelly to exchange my Bitcoins to Bitcoin Cash. These Bitcoin Cash would later be sent to my address. Unfortunately, I did not check twice and had the Bitcoin Cash sent to my Bitcoin address and not Bitcoin Cash address.

Is there a way for me to reclaim these Bitcoin Cash? They are on a Bitcoin Cash address, just not mine. I checked the address and it only holds my Bitcoin Cash, which means it probably does not exist as an address. Is there a way for me to custom create the address and claim them or how do I get them back?

This is the process of how it went

  1. As BTC in Blockchain.info
  2. Transferred to Bitcoin Cash via Changelly
  3. Transferring done, Bitcoin Cash supposed to be sent to my Bitcoin Cash address, to my Bitcoin.com Wallet but after accidentally having written my Bitcoin address and NOT my Bitcoin Cash address, the Bitcoin Cash is now with that address. I can see the cash at the other address but don't know how to get it back.

Help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

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  • If BCH was sent to an address belonging to your bitcoin.com wallet, then I believe you have the private keys on your device and should be safe. Even better, the latest version of the bitcoin.com wallet supports BCH, so your BCH should be visible and available there.
    – tobixen
    Commented Nov 28, 2017 at 9:57
  • I just had a similar problem with the difference that both wallets belong to me. I got help from BitcoinMedic.com and got my funds back. I have read you also got it back, good!
    – NDB
    Commented Dec 22, 2017 at 19:26
  • It feels bad to lose them in the first place but it feels very nice to retrieve them back.
    – Ahmad Othman
    Commented Jan 1, 2018 at 18:59

2 Answers 2

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You'll have to negotiate with your service provider whether they can help you.

Whoever holds the private keys for your Bitcoin wallet should be theoretically able to generate a transaction that sends the BCH from the Bitcoin address to wherever you wanted them to go.

In practice this may be difficult or infeasible: To keep large quantities of Bitcoin secure, the private keys are often stored in hardware devices or otherwise hard to access. The service provider will likely at least need to manually intervene to help you.

If the Bitcoin address was SegWit (which I wouldn't expect in this case), it might be even more difficult to recover, as you'd need the help of a miner, additionally.

It is unfortunate, that the Bitcoin Cash developers used the same address format as Bitcoin, even after this problem was well-known and in the media recently with Litecoin switching to a new unique P2SH address format for this very reason. However, I've read that they are working on a new unique address format, so at least this should stop happening in the future.

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  • Who is my service provider in this case? Changelly, Bitcoin.com Wallet or some other third party?
    – Ahmad Othman
    Commented Nov 11, 2017 at 16:50
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    @AhmadOthman: If I understand correctly, the Bitcoin address that you accidentally sent the BCH to was from your Bitcoin.com wallet. That means that Bitcoin.com has the corresponding private key.
    – Murch ♦
    Commented Nov 11, 2017 at 16:52
  • I sent Bitcoin Cash to my Bitcoin address on Bitcoin.com wallet. Hope that was your question. Thanks, really appreciate your help.
    – Ahmad Othman
    Commented Nov 11, 2017 at 16:54
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    @AhmadOthman: Then Bitcoin.com would be who can help you recover it.
    – Murch ♦
    Commented Nov 11, 2017 at 17:02
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    If BCH was sent to a bitcoin.com-wallet, then one is in control of the private keys, and rescuing the funds should be as easy as upgrading the wallet (since it supports BCH by now).
    – tobixen
    Commented Nov 28, 2017 at 11:02
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Nope,impossible to get back, effectively you sent them to another bitcoin cash address that less likely might be for anyone or used..your coins are lost into the void on that address and you cannot have the keys to it, nor anybody can get them back You can though see them on the BCH blockchain stuck there Sorry to deliver the bad news

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    That's not true, the keys to the address are the same for both chains if it's a 'normal' bitcoin address so it should be recoverable
    – meshcollider
    Commented Nov 12, 2017 at 21:06
  • Ahh,apologies, correct the keys are same, misread question
    – Michel Sakr
    Commented Nov 13, 2017 at 21:20
  • I was able to get them back, fortunately. Thanks for all the help!
    – Ahmad Othman
    Commented Dec 4, 2017 at 0:46
  • @Ahmed, could you please let me know how you got the coins back? Did bitcoin.com give you the private keys or did they reverse the transaction themselves? I'm in a similar situation having sent LTC to a BTC wallet held at CEX.io. Their support is terrible though, so I'm having no luck so far getting the coins back.
    – Runny Yolk
    Commented Dec 12, 2017 at 15:14
  • @AhmadOthman for Runny Yolk and others that read this it would be helpful if you could explain what you did to resolve your problem.
    – Adam Millerchip
    Commented Dec 18, 2017 at 16:10

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