In a surprising turn of events, a Coinbase executive, Conor Grogan, has discovered lost crypto worth $322,873 and successfully located the owner who was unaware of its existence.
Grogan took to Twitter to share the story, stating that he found the funds for a stranger who had lost their life savings in a hack.
The lost crypto, Ethereum Classic (ETC), was obtained through a 2016 hard fork of the Ethereum blockchain, which created Ethereum Classic.
During this fork, anyone holding Ethereum (ETH) received a 1:1 airdrop of the new ETC. However, many people were unaware of this airdrop and may have funds they don’t realize exist.
Grogan explained that forgetting about funds or not keeping track of airdrops is a common occurrence in the crypto space. He mentioned that he has previously found six-figure amounts for other individuals in similar situations.
To locate the lost crypto, Grogan examined the “ETC rich list” to identify accounts with untouched ETC balances. Around 20 accounts were found to hold balances of at least $250,000, but there was no activity associated with them.
While tracing these accounts, Grogan faced dead ends until he discovered a connection to an EOSDAC coin. This led him to an EOS wallet, and through further investigation, he found the legal name of the person associated with the ETH address.
Grogan reached out to the account owner, who was shocked to learn about the lost crypto and had no knowledge of the same address being used during the airdrop.
The incident highlights the common occurrence of lost crypto assets, which can be a result of user errors or hacking incidents.
User mistakes, such as sending crypto to the wrong address or choosing the wrong network, often lead to lost assets. Additionally, hacking attempts have plagued the crypto industry, resulting in significant losses.
