Sometimes—but a completed cryptocurrency transfer generally cannot be reversed. Recovery may be possible if an exchange freezes funds, authorities seize them, or a victim succeeds through a legal process. None of those routes guarantees that the money will be returned. Blockchain tracing can help locate where funds went, but tracing alone does not freeze or recover them.
What recovery can—and cannot—mean
A cryptocurrency transaction confirmed on a blockchain generally has no chargeback mechanism. The FBI says cryptocurrency transfers are irrevocable in its Cryptocurrency guidance. That does not make recovery impossible: a service holding the assets may be able to restrict them, or authorities and courts may be able to pursue seizure or other legal remedies.
Keep these steps distinct: tracing identifies where funds moved; freezing restricts access to assets held by a service; seizure uses legal authority to take control; and recovery means the victim actually receives funds. One step does not guarantee the next.
Possible routes to recovery
| Route | Who may act | What it can do | Important limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exchange freeze | An exchange that receives or controls the assets | May restrict an account or assets under its internal procedures or in response to legal process. | It is not guaranteed that the assets will reach an exchange, that the exchange can freeze them, or that a freeze will lead to reimbursement. The FBI describes this possibility in its August 11, 2023 notice. |
| Investigation and seizure | Law enforcement and, where required, courts | Can investigate traced transactions and seek control of identified assets through legal authority. | Tracing is not a seizure order. Cross-border transfers and jurisdictional limits can complicate investigations. |
| Civil litigation | A victim through an appropriate legal process | May provide a route to pursue a claim against an identifiable party. | Whether a claim exists, whom to pursue, and where to file depend on the facts and jurisdiction. |
| Private tracing service | A private analyst or company | May provide information about the movement of funds. | Private companies cannot issue seizure orders or guarantee a freeze, timetable, or repayment. The FBI warns about firms falsely claiming they can recover crypto in its notice on recovery claims. |
What to do if your exchange was hacked
- Contact the exchange promptly. Use support details reached independently through the exchange’s official website or app—not a phone number, link, or account sent by an unsolicited caller or message. Ask whether there is an incident-specific case or claims process, and save ticket numbers and replies.
- Secure the accounts you still control. If you can sign in, follow the exchange’s official security instructions and change credentials as appropriate. Do not share passwords, recovery phrases, authentication codes, or banking details with someone claiming to help.
- Preserve records. Save account notices, statements, withdrawal confirmations, support correspondence, screenshots, messages, and any law-enforcement report numbers. Keep original files where possible.
- Report the incident. U.S. victims can report to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) or a local FBI field office. Use the official IC3 complaint form. Outside the United States, contact the relevant national police or cybercrime reporting service and follow the exchange’s official incident guidance.
- Provide what you know, even if details are missing. FBI guidance says to report with available information rather than wait for every identifier. Include the relevant transaction and incident details listed below.
Information to gather for a report
- Sending and receiving wallet addresses, if known
- Cryptocurrency type and amount
- Date and time of each relevant transaction, including the time zone if available
- Transaction ID or hash
- The exchange or exchanges involved
- A timeline of what happened, including how you were contacted, relevant people or accounts, websites, apps, phone numbers, email addresses, and messages
The FBI’s August 24, 2023 guidance for cryptocurrency scam victims lists transaction details to include. Although written for scam victims, its evidence checklist is useful when reporting a cryptocurrency loss; an exchange-wide breach may require a different incident-specific process.
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Why tracing does not guarantee recovery
Public blockchain records can allow investigators to follow transactions. But assets can move quickly across addresses, blockchains, and countries. The FBI notes that transfers to overseas exchanges can create significant challenges for U.S. law enforcement, particularly in jurisdictions with weak anti-money-laundering laws or regulations, in its cryptocurrency guidance.
A tracing report may help investigators or an exchange identify a flow, but a private analyst cannot compel a service to freeze funds or seize assets. Those actions require cooperation from a service or appropriate legal authority. Even when assets are identified, the process may not result in their return to the victim.
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How to recognize a fake recovery offer
Be wary of unsolicited messages from people who claim they can recover stolen crypto, especially if they promise a guaranteed result, demand an upfront payment, ask for account credentials or personal or banking information, or claim to represent a government agency. The FTC advises consumers not to pay unsolicited recovery offers or hand over account information in its consumer alert. Requests for payment by gift card, cryptocurrency, or wire transfer are strong scam indicators.
The FBI also warns that fake recovery businesses may disappear after taking a deposit, produce weak tracing reports, or demand more money. Some pose as law firms or claim links to agencies. Its June 24, 2024 notice reported that victims further exploited by fictitious law firms lost over $9.9 million from February 2023 through February 2024, according to FBI IC3. Verify any claimed government affiliation using contact details you find independently on an official site.
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- Smart backup: Use your second Tangem Wallet as your Backup keys with end‑to‑end encryption; no more papers, pictures. If one card is lost, the remaining can still restore full access, with an optional seed phrase available for advanced users.
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What the Bybit case does—and does not—show
On February 26, 2025, the FBI attributed the theft of approximately $1.5 billion in virtual assets from Bybit, taken on or about February 21, 2025, to North Korea and named the activity “TraderTraitor.” The FBI said the assets had been converted and dispersed across thousands of addresses on multiple blockchains. It urged exchanges, bridges, analytics firms, DeFi services, RPC node operators, and other virtual-asset service providers to block transactions involving listed addresses. The FBI advisory is an example of attribution and disruption guidance, not evidence of a general compensation program or a typical recovery rate.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How reporting figures should be interpreted
Loss statistics for other types of crypto crime do not predict recovery odds after an exchange hack. For example, an FBI IC3 advisory said victims reported losing more than $2.5 billion to cryptocurrency investment frauds in 2022; that figure concerns investment fraud, not exchange hacks or cryptocurrency theft generally. See the August 11, 2023 advisory for its scope.
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