Sent Tokens to a Wallet that does not support ERC-20 Tokens

If you accidentally sent ERC-20 tokens to your wallet address that does not support ERC-20 tokens, you may retrieve the ERC-20 token by importing the address to another wallet interface that supports ERC-20 tokens.

(What is ERC-20 Token?)

(For a comprehensive list of wallets that support both ETH and ERC-20 tokens, feel free to visit our wallet directory here.)

Kindly follow the following steps:

  1. Find out if the receiving wallet service provider allows you to export the private key.

    • Some wallets (like centralised ones in exchanges) hold your addresses’ private keys. If you accidentally sent your ERC-20 tokens to this kind of wallet, kindly communicate with the support team of the exchange for further assistance on the subject matter.
    • If you have the private keys for your ETH address, you can proceed to step 2.

  2. Export the private key for your ETH address

    • Private keys should never be exposed, shared or stored online. The best way to keep your private key is to print/write it on a piece of paper and keep it some place that only you would know.
    • If you fear that your address might be exposed to online threats after exporting the private key, we would advise creating a new address altogether to store your assets after you are done with recovering your ERC-20 tokens.

  3. Access the address through an Ethereum-compatible wallet. In this example, we will use MyEtherWallet v5 (Or any other wallet that supports ERC-20 tokens).

      1. At the homepage, select Access My Wallet.
      1. Select the Software option.
      1. Choose whether to log in with your Keystore File, Mnemonic Phrase or Private Key.

  4. Once you have gained access to your address, look for your ERC-20 token at the Tokens section (the section should be on the right side of the dashboard).

  5. Move the ERC-20 tokens to the right address.

  6. If you do not want to move the tokens, the alternative would be to switch from using the previous wallet that does not support ERC-20 tokens and only access the address via MyEtherWallet (or any other wallet that supports ERC-20 tokens) in the future.

*If you are not in urgent need for the ERC-20 tokens, or you are not planning to use it for a while, we recommend just leaving the tokens in the ETH address. Exporting private keys should only be done and treated as a last resort.

**Never share your private keys, backup phrase or keystore file to anyone, not even to our support. Anyone asking for private keys is looking to steal your funds.

  • Raja Amir
Updated