ETH or other tokens not appearing in recipient's wallet

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If you've sent tokens from your MetaMask wallet but they're not appearing in the wallet of the recipient, follow these steps:

1. Check that the transaction was successful. Head to the block explorer of the network you were on. From here, you can either get the transaction hash from MetaMask and paste it in the search bar, or just paste your wallet address and find the transaction manually under your recent activity. If the transaction was successful, you'll see something like this when you're on the transaction page in the block explorer:

   

   If the transaction was unsuccessful, the tokens will not show up in the destination wallet, and you'll need to try sending them again. Remember that blockchain transactions are not immediate, so your transaction may take a little while to be confirmed.

   If the transaction is successful, proceed to the next step.

2. Check that you sent the transaction to the correct address. There are two potential reasons why your tokens may not be appearing where you expect them to:

   • You sent to a contract address. Smart contracts on Ethereum and EVM-compatible networks have their own addresses, and they are easily mistakeable for regular wallet addresses.
   • You pasted in the wrong address. This is a simple but easy mistake to make. Double-check the transaction on the explorer: did you paste the intended address?

3. Has the recipient configured their wallet to display the token? Whilst it's highly unlikely that ETH will not show up by default, some wallets—MetaMask amongst them—often need tokens to be added manually in order for them to display in your balance, especially if the token is new or uncommon. Check that this applies to the wallet in question.

How can I get my ETH/tokens back if I sent them to the wrong address?

Blockchains are immutable, and designed specifically to be an unalterable record of activity. This means that confirmed transactions are forever confirmed — they cannot be reversed.

Unfortunately, if you transferred to the wrong address and you can verify on the block explorer that the transaction was successful, you're unlikely ever to see those tokens again.

The only possible route for retrieval is to contact the owner of the address and try and arrange for the tokens to be sent back. However, as addresses are anonymous by nature, it is likely to be difficult to impossible to identify wallet owners.