If someone mistakenly sent you 1 ETH, what would you do?

[Mister.Satan]

You can not send ETH to a wrong address cause everyone is just copying and paste so it is very unlikely you got a wrong address. Wrong contact address maybe. If that was a case then I would send it right back since he have to know me.

[Abiky]

A random person would never send you coins by mistake, it can only happen if they for some reason take your address from a block explorer, but the chance of it happening is extremely low. It's impossible to mistype an address, because it would invalidate the checksum and a transaction will fail.

Sending coins back is a bad idea, because the address might belong to a custodian, and if this custodian will be uncooperative, the coins will be lost. I'd rather wait and see if someone approaches me. I'd also post that I received coins by mistake on this forum and reddit to see if anyone would come to claim, but I won't specify the date, amount and addresses of the transaction.

Rather than mistyping the address, the person could simply send coins to another address on the Blockchain. This issue usually applies to ETC as I've seen some cases where people send ETH to ETC addresses. I think that this is due to lack of education, not knowing to separate a forked project from the original one. With QR codes and NFC tags available today, sending coins by mistake will no longer be an issue. I doubt anyone would want to type a whole ETH address manually, unless a computer without a webcam is being used (for scanning QR codes).

Nonetheless, the chances of someone sending you ETH by mistake are very little. I hope that as developers improve user experience on ETH wallets, people will be able to make better use of it. The combination of checksums, QR codes, and NFC tags could make the process of sending ETH easier. In case someone sends you 1 ETH by mistake, you can either hold onto it (as the crypto space is still widely unregulated) or simply send it back to its original owner. But I'm sure most people will choose the first option since they have no obligation of returning the coins due to the fact that the Blockchain is decentralized. As long as you put the "free coins" you've received to good use, there should be nothing to worry about. Just my thoughts

[suvo05]

I personally will hold 1 ethereum it until there is more information, when the owner contacted me and provide clear evidence, i will return 1 ethereum it
but if there is no information at all, I'll take it

What are the possible ways that the person can contact you?

In general, it is not possible to know exactly who the sender is and if 1 ETH is of high value during that time, it will be very unlikely to return. I've never been in this situation, but I understand if I send it wrong it all ends and there is almost no hope of getting the money back. It is best for each person to be careful in the transaction and to check multiple times before deciding to send.

Even if you realize about your mistakes just after transaction, even before the transaction got verified there will be no option to stop it and that will be more frustrating. 

[MainIbem]

And it could also happen that while trying to be the nice guy and sending the ETH back, you made similar mistake and sent to the wrong address. Just when you had sent, you got a mail pleading wit you to send back the coin. What will you do?

[forexandcryptoauditor]

I would also love to return the rewards which received mistakenly because I know the pain of losing money due to some silly mistakes. Here the most difficult thing is to identify the person who sent that transaction and even then to know if it's done by mistake from him/her or the account was hacked.

[lenovop-70]

Ill wait few days for the right owner to contact me, and if no one on it, i am probably use it as gas transaction on me, and donate it to someone else who may need it. we know the gas transaction fee bow high sometimes, and i have some friends who need the fee badly since they don not have that much. i think it was wise 

[Wend]

I were to receive 1 ETH out of nowhere then I would probably keep it for sometime and wait for the owner to contact me.
If the owner contacts me and explains why and how he sent me the ETH then I would probably give it back to him after receiving a signed message.
If the owner doesn't contacts me then I would probably hold it as an investment for myself.

But how to contact on you they dont know anything about your info and its only an address only that can use. Any information from you are always hidden so must better to use it for gas or trade than to wait for the owner. And we cant tell that he/she have mistake send it because it was directly to your wallet.

[IvugeoEvolutionCoin]

And it could also happen that while trying to be the nice guy and sending the ETH back, you made similar mistake and sent to the wrong address. Just when you had sent, you got a mail pleading wit you to send back the coin. What will you do?

This is the more reason why you need to be extremely sure you are sending back the ETH to the rightful owner. Best thing to do is not disclose the amount of ETH you received and then request for the transaction hash, this way you can easily catch an impostor.

[seramania]

I were to receive 1 ETH out of nowhere then I would probably keep it for sometime and wait for the owner to contact me.
If the owner contacts me and explains why and how he sent me the ETH then I would probably give it back to him after receiving a signed message.
If the owner doesn't contacts me then I would probably hold it as an investment for myself.

But how to contact on you they dont know anything for you and its only an address only that can use. Any information from you are always hidden so must better to use it for gas or trade than to wait for the owner. And we cant tell that he/she have mistake send it because it was directly to your wallet.

we don't know who the real owner's contact information is, sometimes we are blocked by information who owns the coin. so there's nothing we can do but use it to trade or sell

[restuibu]

in crypto we don't know whose wallet is and if we announce anywhere there will be thousands of people who will admit that it's theirs, one of the best ways is to take the eth and use it to trade

[andycarrol]

its impossible i think but let's say someone transfer me accidentally his 1 ethereum well if he manages to contact me then maybe we could talk and literally i would ask him to give me some ethereum and i will send back to him but if he didn't managed to contact me or where to contact me i think i should keep the ethereum.

[Bossfidelity]

I don't think it's possible for an unknown person to send me that amount, most times it may be someone you've traded with in the past who mistakenly copied your wallet address. In a situation like that, I'll give it back because its unfair to walk away with such an amount.

[Abiky]

This is the more reason why you need to be extremely sure you are sending back the ETH to the rightful owner. Best thing to do is not disclose the amount of ETH you received and then request for the transaction hash, this way you can easily catch an impostor.

Exactly. One must be careful when sending the coins back to someone else. Besides requesting a transaction hash, you can also request a signed message from the public address where the transaction originated. This will give you undeniable proof that the person claiming the ETH is the original owner. While this is a form of courtesy, there's no obligation since crypto is widely unregulated. Due to the Blockchain's decentralized model, the funds are technically yours once fully confirmed by the network. You can put the 1 ETH to good use by donating it to a charity of your choice. Or you can decide to "hodl" it for the long term.

In order for people to avoid mistakes when sending coins to another address on the Blockchain, it's best to copy and paste a public address or simply scan the provided QR code. Mistakes are only made if the person types the address manually on the wallet. But it's an oddity these days, since most (if not all) wallets have a built-in QR code scanner and a text box you can easily paste a copied address into. As I was told before, ETH has a checksum mechanism which verifies the address is typed correctly by the user. This should reduce the number of mistakes made by newcomers into cryptocurrency.

Nonetheless, it's your decision whenever you want to send the 1 ETH back to its original owner or keep it for the long term. Things would've been different if it was a credit/debit card transaction or payment through a traditional payment processor like PayPal. This is largely because these methods are centralized, where you're obliged to comply with regulations. But since crypto is still unregulated these days, anyone can do whatever they want with it (sort of). Just my thoughts

[Ginger Beef]

You could just post on several Crypto Exchange Telegrams, and say you want to give back 1 ETH you received by accident.  I'm guessing you just might get a response. 
 

[princecharles]

I've actually not seen or heard of anyone sending ethereum to a wrong address. If I eventually get to see any ethereum in my wallet, I'll see it as a gift, unless I'm informed that it was sent by mistake. I really don't think anyone would be able to write down the address, most cases the address is copied and unless the person copied my address, it would be impossible to send me by mistake.

[Ginger Beef]

This is the more reason why you need to be extremely sure you are sending back the ETH to the rightful owner. Best thing to do is not disclose the amount of ETH you received and then request for the transaction hash, this way you can easily catch an impostor.

Exactly. One must be careful when sending the coins back to someone else. Besides requesting a transaction hash, you can also request a signed message from the public address where the transaction originated. This will give you undeniable proof that the person claiming the ETH is the original owner. While this is a form of courtesy, there's no obligation since crypto is widely unregulated. Due to the Blockchain's decentralized model, the funds are technically yours once fully confirmed by the network. You can put the 1 ETH to good use by donating it to a charity of your choice. Or you can decide to "hodl" it for the long term.

In order for people to avoid mistakes when sending coins to another address on the Blockchain, it's best to copy and paste a public address or simply scan the provided QR code. Mistakes are only made if the person types the address manually on the wallet. But it's an oddity these days, since most (if not all) wallets have a built-in QR code scanner and a text box you can easily paste a copied address into. As I was told before, ETH has a checksum mechanism which verifies the address is typed correctly by the user. This should reduce the number of mistakes made by newcomers into cryptocurrency.

Nonetheless, it's your decision whenever you want to send the 1 ETH back to its original owner or keep it for the long term. Things would've been different if it was a credit/debit card transaction or payment through a traditional payment processor like PayPal. This is largely because these methods are centralized, where you're obliged to comply with regulations. But since crypto is still unregulated these days, anyone can do whatever they want with it (sort of). Just my thoughts

So many people overthinking this fun morality question.  There are only two choices:

1.)  Keep it.
2.)  Send it back.

[dainoran]

I chose to return the money / ETH, I will definitely return it if he can provide proof that it belongs to him, someone must have committed unwanted negligence, it would be nice for us to give the rights he has over the ETH.

[BitSat19]

You could just post on several Crypto Exchange Telegrams, and say you want to give back 1 ETH you received by accident.  I'm guessing you just might get a response. 
 

This is not good way of giving back to real owner because its not easy and good way just try to catch with sender address hopefully you have some reply or wait for few days then if you will not receive any reply then use this because now its your property and if you want send them back on sender address this option is also available but this is also not easy way because many time we have more then one sender address.

[Ginger Beef]

You could just post on several Crypto Exchange Telegrams, and say you want to give back 1 ETH you received by accident.  I'm guessing you just might get a response. 
 

This is not good way of giving back to real owner because its not easy and good way just try to catch with sender address hopefully you have some reply or wait for few days then if you will not receive any reply then use this because now its your property and if you want send them back on sender address this option is also available but this is also not easy way because many time we have more then one sender address.

I was joking.

[-CryptoViking-]

Some would do this:

or


Some would return it and be like this:

or

And the truth it this: