What to do if you send USDT or USDC to the wrong network or address

The short answer

It depends on who controls the receiving address. If it's your own wallet on another EVM network, you can usually move the tokens back yourself. If it's an exchange deposit address, only the exchange can help, often for a fee and never with a guarantee. If it's a stranger's address, the tokens are almost always gone: neither Tether nor Circle reverses transfers.

Before anything else:

1. Find the transaction hash in your wallet or exchange history, and open it on the block explorer for the network you actually used. Note the token, amount, network, sending and receiving addresses, and time.
2. Work out who controls the receiving address: you, an exchange, a company you know, or nobody you can reach.
3. Contact them only through official channels, such as the exchange's help center or the supplier's known phone number.
4. Never share your recovery phrase or private key. No legitimate recovery needs them.

The common cases

Mixing up ERC-20 and TRC-20 is harder. Tron addresses start with T and Ethereum addresses with 0x, so most wallets reject the mismatch. BEP-20 is the trap: BNB Chain uses the same 0x format as Ethereum, so a BEP-20 transfer to an address you meant to use on Ethereum goes through, and the network has no way to know your intent.

Your own wallet on another EVM network

Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Base, Avalanche C-Chain and BNB Chain are all EVM networks with the same address format. MetaMask explains that your recovery phrase "generates the same address across all EVM-compatible networks." If you sent tokens to your own address on the wrong one, switch your wallet to that network and they'll appear. You'll need a little of that network's gas token to send them on.

A non-EVM network is different. MetaMask warns that "if you sent tokens to an address on a non-EVM network, it's likely your tokens are gone forever."

Smart contract wallets are a separate case. A Safe multisig exists only on the networks where it was deployed. Safe's help center says that, more likely than not, there is no way to recover funds sent to a Safe address on another network. A Safe created with version 1.3.0 can sometimes be recreated at the same address on another network, with the same owners and threshold. That is a job for a developer.

When an exchange holds the address

The receiving exchange holds the keys, so only it can help. Each sets its own rules:

• Binance has a self-service recovery tool. As of its 29 May 2026 update, a deposit made on an unsupported EVM network takes about 30 working days and costs 20 USDT, charged only if recovery succeeds. A missing or wrong memo costs the network withdrawal fee and takes about 7 working days, and the funds go back to the sending address. Binance says recovery "is not guaranteed".
• Kraken charges the network fee for a missing memo or a deposit to a hot wallet, $200 for an unsupported token on a supported network, and $500 for an unlisted asset on an unsupported network. It says "not all misrouted crypto deposits can be recovered."
• Coinbase says it "cannot recover funds that are lost from being sent or received using an incorrect network." Its asset recovery tool covers only certain assets and networks, charges 5% on the amount above $100 plus network fees, and needs your own self-custody wallet to receive the funds.

If you sent to a supplier's or customer's exchange account, they have to file the claim: Binance, for example, accepts recovery requests only for deposits into the applicant's own account. Give them the transaction hash, network, amount and time.

Wrong address, and what Tether and Circle will do

A transfer to an address nobody you know controls can only come back if the owner chooses to return it. Blockchains don't have a recall function, and the issuers won't step in:

• Tether's terms say "Tether Token transactions are not reversible," and that once tokens are sent, "whether intentionally or by a fraudulent or accidental transaction," you accept the risk of losing access to them "indefinitely or permanently."
• Circle's USDC terms, updated 15 October 2026, say Circle "does not have the ability to reverse or recall any transaction once initiated" and that you bear any loss from sending USDC to an incorrect address.

Both issuers can freeze tokens. Circle's terms let it block addresses that may be associated with illegal activity and freeze USDC under a legal order. Tether says it freezes assets linked to illegal activity at the request of law enforcement, and that it had frozen more than $4.4 billion in total by April 2026, working with more than 340 agencies in 65 countries. A freeze stops the funds moving; it doesn't send them back to you.

So if you were tricked rather than mistaken, report it to the police straight away and give them the transaction hash. Tokens can only be frozen while they're still at an address the issuer can block, so speed matters.

How to prevent it

• Check the network field every time. The token name alone doesn't tell you the network.
• Send a test first, and wait for the recipient to confirm it before sending the rest.
• Copy the main payment's address from the same verified source as the test. In a May 2024 case Chainalysis analyzed, a victim sent a test payment, then minutes later sent about $68 million of wrapped bitcoin to a scammer's address that matched the first characters of the real one. The scammer returned the original amount six days later. Chainalysis says "verifying the exact address character by character is essential."
• Use an address book with allowlisting. Coinbase's allowlist limits sends to saved addresses and holds new ones for 48 hours before they can be used.
• Include the memo or tag whenever the receiving exchange shows one.
• Check the token contract on networks with native and bridged versions of USDC, against Circle's list of addresses.

How this works with Align

Align accepts USDT on Ethereum, Tron, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum and Optimism, and USDC on Ethereum, Solana, Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism and Avalanche. Before you send to your Align balance, check the network matches one of these and the address shown for it. If a transfer goes wrong, contact us with the transaction hash, network and amount. For how to pick a network in the first place, see which network to use for USDT and USDC payments.

Sources

• Tether, Terms of service (updated 26 February 2026)
• Tether, Freeze of more than $344 million in coordination with OFAC (23 April 2026)
• Circle, USDC terms (updated 15 October 2026) and USDC contract addresses
• Binance, Self-service recovery (May 2026) and Wrong or missing tag or memo
• Kraken, Crypto assets deposit recovery
• Coinbase, Assets on multiple networks, Recover unsupported crypto and Address book allowlist
• MetaMask, I sent crypto to the wrong place
• Safe, I sent assets to a Safe address on the wrong network
• Tron developer docs, Account
• Chainalysis, Anatomy of an address poisoning scam (October 2024)
• Align docs, Blockchains and stablecoins