Multi-million greenback losses aren’t unusual amongst crypto customers. Regardless of the trigger — hacks, phishing, rug pulls, liquidations, or just HODLing cursed cash — crypto might be misplaced within the blink of a watch.
A much less mentioned however surprisingly frequent supply of losses, nevertheless, is the huge sums that lie forgotten in dormant blockchain wallets and put aside as unclaimed airdrops all through the cryptosphere.
Whereas some are effectively conscious of what they’ve misplaced — and are even prepared to wade by means of landfill to get it again — many others are unaware of their neglected addresses or what long-forgotten property could also be value immediately.
Coinbase’s Conor Grogan just lately took to X to share his years-long facet mission of monitoring down wallets that seem to have been deserted, hoping to extend visibility in order that pockets homeowners may finally attain out.
Over the previous few years, I’ve recovered over $10M in unclaimed airdrops, misplaced ETH, and different forgotten property for 50+ individuals through some guide onchain sleuthing.
Lastly obtained round to constructing a software to do that programmatically in nights/weekends! pic.twitter.com/OuLINYgKdO
— Conor (@jconorgrogan) June 5, 2025
Within the wake of FTX’s implosion, many had been feeling disheartened by the state of the crypto trade.
Trying into different potential “landmines,” equivalent to Crypto.com by accident transferring $400 million of ETH to a different alternate, Grogan says, “It was pretty depressing. I decided that I needed a way to stay motivated and do something positive.”
His workflow consists of three phases, the primary of which is figuring out property in danger. “A lot of people used Ethereum or other chains in the early days without realizing they were leaving value behind,” he says.
Interactions like taking part in round with new instruments, staking tokens for rewards, or minting property with little worth on the time may immediately “be worth thousands or even millions.”
Grogan appears to be like for dormant balances, unclaimed vesting, or funds trapped in contracts. These property are sometimes totally managed by the person.
“They just don’t know they exist, or their wallet software isn’t sophisticated enough to show them,” he explains.
The finer particulars of how he scouts out these positions are left “intentionally vague,” given the potential for scammers to make use of these similar strategies to supply to “help” homeowners recuperate their funds.
Grogan is aware of establishing belief in crypto is tough
The following stage is discovering the proprietor of the forgotten property. Grogan has discovered to acknowledge what he calls “micro-signatures,” small behavioral or structural cues that assist slender issues down.
These can embody how a pockets funds itself, what protocols it interacts with, fuel patterns, or deal with formatting quirks.
“In some cases,” he says, “it’s far easier; some wallets are registered to the Ethereum Name Service, which may connect to a real-world or online identity.”
The ultimate, and most delicate, step is outreach.
In an area rife with scams and phishing makes an attempt, establishing belief is tough. “Because so many scams start with someone pretending to help, people are understandably skeptical,” he acknowledges.
Typically, he depends on oblique routes — mutual contacts, on-chain hyperlinks to recognized addresses, or social media trails — to validate his strategy and acquire credibility.
“My role at Coinbase helps,” he says, including, “the crypto world is smaller than people think.”
Grogan’s course of has been refined over time, shifting from guide detection to automation of the extremely repetitive duties concerned.
“I was non-technical a few years ago,” he admitted. “I would read contract bytecode line by line, scan Etherscan by hand… but over time, I leaned into AI and taught myself to code.”
Now, his custom-built instruments assist flag dormant property, detect patterns, and course of massive volumes of information, although the ultimate steps nonetheless require a human contact.
On motivation, he describes how this has advanced from “a side interest and has become something I care about deeply.”
He provides, “There’s nothing extra rewarding than contacting a complete stranger and telling them you discovered cash they’d forgotten or by no means knew they’d.
“It’s a totally odd feeling, being able to share in that moment with someone you’ve never met.”
In some instances, the place property recovered had been thought misplaced to hacks, even partial restoration is taken into account an enormous win.
Grogan additionally sees this work as a counter-narrative to the extra cynical perceptions of the crypto world and is eager to set a great instance for his two sons. “Crypto is often portrayed as a zero-sum game,” he says. “But in reality, there’s room for building, for helping others, and for doing work that quietly strengthens the system.”
For these questioning in the event that they’ve left property behind, Grogan recommends checking previous wallets utilizing instruments like Revoke.money, Debank, or Zapper. Don’t assume zero stability means zero worth; many airdrops require guide claiming, for instance.
And above all, safeguard your keys, all the time.
“If someone reaches out claiming you have assets you forgot about, do not take them at face value,” he cautions. “Trust nobody until you can independently verify every part of what they are saying.”
Hypothetically, if one had been to search out 3 million {dollars} of ETH you forgot about (possibly left it in some previous contract you forgot about), would you tip the particular person? What about 9 million {dollars} of ETH?
What greenback quantity and share would you tip? Hypothetical in fact
— Conor (@jconorgrogan) June 7, 2025
When his personal query on tipping is put again to him, he leaves it solely as much as the recipient. “Some people choose not to send anything, and that’s completely fine. Others are incredibly generous,” he says.
“For me, the real goal is to make sure lost assets find their way back to the rightful owner.”
Grogan’s mission continues to bear fruit, with nearly $350,000 value of ETH recovered simply yesterday.
