Last year, Coinbase launched an asset recovery tool for people who really don’t understand how blockchain works, and think they can send CDAI coins to an Etherium wallet. I know that sounds like a pretty specific example, and I am able to make it because I am the numpty that made that mistake, several years ago. I make no secret of being incredibly bearish on crypto in general, and losing a few hundred dollars of a currency I didn’t understand by sending it to the wrong wallet, to me, felt like appropriate punishment for not knowing what the hell I am doing.
And for a long time, I thought that would be the end of the story. Until today, when I received an email from Coinbase, reminding me (I’m lightly paraphrasing) ‘hey, dumbass, we noticed you screwed up, here’s the info you need to reclaim your coins’.