Millions of dollars are not uncommon among crypto users. Whatever the cause – hacking, phishing, lag pulling, liquidation, or simply embracing a cursed coin, can cause the code to be lost in the blink of an eye.
But the less-thoughtless, surprisingly common cause of losses is the vast amount of money forgotten in dormant blockchain wallets and set aside as unencrypted air drops.
Some are well aware of what they lost, and are even happy to roam the landfill to get it back, but many others often overlook addresses, or assets that were forgotten today, may be worth it today.
Conor Grogan from Coinbase recently used X to share his longtime side project, tracking wallets that appear to have been abandoned. I want to increase visibility So the wallet owner may ultimately reach out to him.
Read more: 8,000 Lost Bitcoin Owners Using AI to Support Excavation Lawsuits
Inspired by the story of a too-crazed coded grandma, Protos reached out to ask Grogan about his project and process.
The FTX explosion prompted many people to feel discouraged by the state of the crypto industry.
Looking into other potential “landmines” such as Crypto.com will inadvertently forward $400 million in ETH to another exchange. “It was pretty depressing. I decided I needed a way to stay motivated and do something positive.”
His workflow consists of three stages, with the first being identifying risky assets. “A lot of people used Ethereum and other chains early on, not realizing that they left behind value,” he says.
You can play with new tools, staking tokens for rewards, and even create assets that are almost worthwhile at that point.It’s worth thousands or millions. ”
Grogan looks for dormant balance, unclaimed vesting, or funds trapped in a contract. These assets are often completely controlled by the user.
“They don’t know they exist, or their wallet software isn’t sophisticated enough to show them,” he explains.
Given the possibility that a fraudster will use these same methods to retrieve funds by “help” owners, details about how he will scout these positions are left “deliberately vague.”
Read more: Abandoned Defi website used to host Crypto Wallet Drainers
Grogan knows that establishing trust in crypto is difficult
The next step is to find the owner of the forgotten property. Grogan learned to recognize what he calls “microsignatures.”
These can include quirks in how the wallet is funded, the protocols, gas patterns, or address formatting to which it interacts.
“In some cases, it’s much easier. Some wallets are registered with the Ethereum Name service, which may connect to your actual or online identity.”
The final and most delicate step is outreach.
In a universe where fraud and phishing attempts are present, it is difficult to establish trust. “So many scams start after pretending to be help, People are obviously skeptical,” he admits.
Often he relies on indirect routes (interacting, links on the chain to known addresses, or social media trails) to validate his approach and gain credibility.
“My role at Coinbase is useful,” he says, adding that “the crypto world is smaller than people think.”
Grogan’s processes have been refined over time as they move from manual detection to automating related, highly repetitive tasks.
“I was untechnical a few years ago,” he admitted. “I read contract bytecodes line by line and scan Etherscan by hand.
Now, his custom building tools help flag dormant assets, detect patterns and process large amounts of data in the final step Still, it needs a human touch.
Read more: $70 million “address addiction” scam refunds underway, over 50% returned
On motivation, he explains how this “evolved from a side interest and became something I care deeply about.”
He adds:
“It’s a totally strange feeling and you can share the moment with someone you’ve never met.”
In some cases, even a partial recovery is considered a major victory if the recovered assets were thought to have been lost to hacking.
Grogan also considers the work to be against a more cynical perception of the crypto world and is keen to set a good example for his two sons. “Cryptocurrency is often portrayed as a zero-sum game,” he says. “But in reality there is room for building, helping others, and doing the work of quietly strengthening the system.. ”
For those wondering if they left their assets behind, Grogan recommends using tools like Revoke.cash, debank, zapper and more to check your old wallet. Do not assume that zero balance means zero values. For example, many airdrops require manual claims.
And most importantly, we will always protect your keys.
“If someone reaches out to you claim you have forgotten assets, don’t take them at face value,” he warns. “I don’t trust anyone until I can independently verify every part of what they’re saying.”
Read more: Coinbase employee may have accessed user data for phishing
When his own questions about the conversion are returned to him, he leaves it entirely to the recipient. “Some people choose not to send anything, and that’s completely fine. Others are incredibly generous,” he says.
“For me, the real goal is to ensure that the lost assets return to their legitimate ownership.”
Grogan’s projects continue to bear fruit for most of them. ETH worth $350,000 I recovered yesterday.
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