The Indiana Jones of Crypto? Coinbase exec helps recover $322K worth of crypto once lost

It’s not every day that someone finds they’ve suddenly become $322,000 richer – but for one lucky crypto investor, that’s exactly what happened in the final hours of July 5th.

In a recent Twitter thread, Coinbase Head of Product Conor Grogan explained how he found hundreds of thousands worth of dormant crypto and even managed to contact its unknown owner.

I Got $322k for a Stranger Who Previously Lost His Life’s Savings in a Hack pic.twitter.com/K1gUqEkAPh

— Connor (@jconorgrogan) 5 July 2023

When the Ethereum blockchain split in 2016, Ethereum Classic (ETC) was created. Any investor who held the now-standard Ether (ETH) on-chain was airdropped an equal amount of ETC. Many people never touched these new funds, Grogan said.

“It is common to forget that you have funds on-chain (or not keep track of airdrops),” Grogan said, sharing how he has raised six-figure sums for investors in the past. In a later screenshot, Grogan said he once notified a Twitter user of 23 ETH that was sitting untouched.

Tracking these wallets is no small task. To begin with, Grogan said that he searched for accounts in the “ETC rich list” that had never touched their ETC. After tracking down about 20 addresses holding more than $250,000 worth of ETC, they scoured each one, looking for ways to get in touch.

Grogan said he found several “dead ends” with most of the wallets, but eventually found an address with a “0x475” prefix. Interestingly, the wallet contained a cryptocurrency called “EOSDAC,” which was airdropped to Ethereum holders in 2018.

Taking advantage of the new information, Grogan said the airdrop amount and snapshot date allowed him to connect to the holder’s EOS wallet.

“As it turns out, this EOS wallet has quite a history!” Grogan said.

This allowed Grogan to finally track down the legal name associated with the 0x475 ETH address by poring over legal documents.

In an unusually heartwarming conclusion, Grogan manages to contact the owner and inform him of his long-lost money.

“Hope I made his day,” Grogan said.

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