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How to send crypto without losing it — choosing the right network

Video · 2 min.
Sending crypto

Olga learns how one person lost $12.25 million in January 2026 by copying an address from their own transaction history: address poisoning. Two networks, a $1 test first, four common mistakes with their safeguards, and why you leave a little SOL or ETH for fees.

Narrated, with light music
The full lesson with numbers and rules is below.
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One skill, and you'll send with confidence

Safe sending comes down to one thing — the right network. Once you understand it, you'll send crypto anywhere as confidently as you make a bank transfer. This lesson is where you master it.

Why does the network matter so much?

Cryptocurrencies exist on different networks (blockchains). Each network is a separate system:

NetworkCurrenciesAddress formatSpeed
SolanaSOL, USDC, USDTA long mix of letters and numbers~2 sec.
Ethereum (ERC-20 — Ethereum's token standard)ETH, USDC, USDTStarts with 0x...~12-30 sec.
ArbitrumETH, USDCStarts with 0x...~2 sec.
The critical difference — and how to spot it

A Solana address and an Ethereum address are different systems, so SOL only travels on the Solana network, and ETH only on Ethereum. Telling them apart is easy: the address format tells you which network it belongs to (I'll show you how below). Pick the network based on the address, and your transfer lands exactly where it should.

Address formats — how to tell them apart

Ethereum / Arbitrum address: starts with 0x, followed by 40 hexadecimal characters. E.g.: 0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f2bD18

Solana address: a mix of letters and numbers, ~32-44 characters, no 0x prefix. E.g.: 7Xm3bGqcnV4mKwPT8UawTuFPKgPK5Gj9kP9

Simple rule

See 0x at the start? That's an Ethereum/Arbitrum address. No 0x? It's most likely Solana.

Practical table: from where / to what / which network

Transfer from a CEX (Nexo, Kraken) to a wallet

I want to sendTo walletCEX networkImportant
SOLJupiter Wallet SOLSolana (SOL)Solana network only!
ETHMetaMask ETHEthereum (ERC-20) or ArbitrumArbitrum is cheaper
USDC (Solana)Jupiter Wallet SOLSolana (SPL)Not ERC-20!
USDC (Ethereum)MetaMask ETHEthereum (ERC-20) or ArbitrumCheck the network

Transfer from wallets to DeFi protocols

ProtocolChainWalletNetwork
KaminoSOL SolanaJupiter WalletSolana
OrcaSOL SolanaJupiter WalletSolana
MeteoraSOL SolanaJupiter WalletSolana
AaveETH Ethereum/ArbitrumMetaMaskEthereum or Arbitrum
Uniswap V3/V4ETH Ethereum/ArbitrumMetaMaskEthereum or Arbitrum

Test transfer — ALWAYS first

  1. Copy the address exactly — from the right place

    Use the Copy button in the receiving wallet itself, or a saved contact. NEVER type it by hand, and NEVER copy it out of your transaction history.

  2. Choose the right network on the CEX

    Nexo/Kraken: "Withdraw" → select the network. Solana = SOL network, Ethereum = ERC-20 or Arbitrum.

  3. Send a SMALL amount first

    Your first transfer is a test worth $1-5. Wait until it arrives.

  4. Check that it arrived

    Open your wallet and check the balance. If you see it — it's safe to send the rest.

  5. Send the full amount

    Now you can send the full amount you intended. Same address, same network.

Bridges — cross-chain transfers

Bridges — why choose the simpler path

Bridges (cross-chain bridges — programs that move cryptocurrencies between different networks) have historically racked up the biggest losses in DeFi: Ronin bridge — $625M, Poly Network — $611M, Binance Bridge — $570M. And this isn't just history: in 2026 alone ~$340.7M was stolen from bridges across 14 exploits, the largest being Kelp DAO at ~$292M (2026-04-18). See numbers like that, and you have to ask yourself: do I even need that bridge? Almost always, no — you can handle the cross-chain move through a CEX instead (I'll show you how below), and that risk never touches you.

When do you need a bridge?

The safest path — avoid bridges

Instead of a bridge, use a CEX as the middleman:

  1. Send crypto back to a CEX

    From your wallet back to Nexo or Kraken. Choose the right network.

  2. Withdraw to the other network

    Now the CEX will let you pick a different network. E.g., withdraw ETH via Arbitrum instead of Ethereum mainnet.

Recommended: Buy the crypto you need directly through a CEX and withdraw it to the network you need. This is safer than a bridge.

Mistake map — and how to avoid each one

Every possible mistake fits into one table, and each has a simple safeguard. Read it, and you'll know every lever in advance:

MistakeWhat happensHow to avoid it
SOL sent to an Ethereum addressMoney lostCheck the address format (no 0x = Solana)
ETH sent via the Solana networkTransaction fails or funds get stuckAlways use Ethereum or Arbitrum
Wrong network chosen on the CEXMoney can be lostTriple-check the network before confirming
Address typo (typed by hand)Money goes to an unknown personALWAYS copy, never type
Address copied from transaction historyMoney goes to an attacker who first sent you a $0 "marker" transaction from a lookalike addressTake the address ONLY from saved contacts or the receiving wallet's own Copy button — never from history
Address swapped by a malicious script in the browserFunds go to the attacker even though the domain is correctVerify the recipient address and amount on your hardware wallet's SCREEN (clear signing), not in the browser window
No gas reserve leftYou can't make other transactionsLeave 0.05 SOL or 0.005 ETH
First transfer — the full amount right awayA mistake would hit the entire amountTest with a small amount ALWAYS first

"I copied it, so it's safe" isn't enough anymore

The rule "always copy, never type by hand" is correct, but on its own it no longer protects you in 2026. There are two ways a correctly copied address still turns out to be the wrong one.

1. Address poisoning

An attacker generates an address whose first and last characters match your real recipient's, then sends you a zero-value transaction from it. It lands in your transaction history right next to the genuine ones. The next time you're in a hurry and copy an address from history, you copy theirs instead of yours.

The real scale

In 2026-01 a single person lost $12.25 million this way — they copied the wrong address out of their own transaction history (Scam Sniffer data). In 2025-12 a comparable case cost around $50 million. This isn't a rare edge case; it's one of the largest sources of single-incident losses.

What to do in practice:

2. A script swaps the address in your browser

The second path is even less visible: the address is swapped by code running on the correct domain. On 2026-03-31 the popular axios npm package was compromised (versions 1.14.1 and 0.30.4) — the malicious code hooked into window.ethereum and Phantom and rewrote the recipient address in Ethereum, Solana and other networks' transactions. The same happened with the Injective SDK on 2026-07-08. The URL bar looked completely correct throughout.

The only reliable defence

The screen where you verify the address has to be a different device from the one that built the transaction. A hardware wallet (Ledger, Trezor) shows the recipient address and amount on its own display, and a script in the browser cannot change that. This is called "clear signing". For larger amounts, confirm only what you see on that screen — not what the browser shows you.

Gas reserve — how much to leave

Every network needs "fuel" (gas) for transactions:

NetworkMinimum gas reserveRecommended
Solana0.01 SOL0.05 SOL
Ethereum0.001 ETH0.005 ETH
Arbitrum0.0005 ETH0.002 ETH
Best practice

When you send crypto from a CEX, don't send your ENTIRE balance. Leave a gas reserve, or you won't be able to do anything in DeFi protocols.

Summary

Master this one skill, and you can move money freely through your entire DeFi setup — from exchange to wallet, from wallet to Kamino, Orca, or Aave — with no bank's permission required.

Quick check
How do you recognize an Ethereum or Arbitrum address?
Practice task
0 / 5
Your first transfer — test with $1-5 worth

Picking the wrong network is the most common and most costly beginner mistake — so we'll sidestep it hands-on. Send crypto from an exchange to your wallet: a test amount first, then the rest.

Your first transfer is ALWAYS a test worth $1-5. Wrong network or address = money lost for good — there's no undo button in crypto.

This is learning, not investing — use only small amounts you treat as tuition.

You just transferred crypto yourself with the right network and a test — this is exactly the skill most beginners fear and never try.

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Free material is easy to put off

Something practice teaches: when you paid nothing to learn, it is easy to postpone learning indefinitely. If these lessons actually gave you something — saved you a mistake, or explained what nobody else did — you can pay whatever you think they were worth.

This is not a price, a subscription, or a fee for access. The amount is yours to choose, and paying nothing is entirely fine.

Solana address

CUj6wYQLSBxidzm7Lqtkxbw2d8Sv2H2tbJELyAjR756M

Solana network only

Send SOL or SPL tokens (e.g. USDC) only on the Solana network. Sending from an exchange over a different network loses the funds permanently — nobody can recover them.

What you get for it

Nothing extra, and that is deliberate. Every lesson, all three difficulty levels and every calculator stay free and sign-up-free, with or without a donation. There is no gated section, no share of profits, no future token and no claim on anything.

Where the money goes

A donation becomes my own money. I use it to keep the site running and to fund a public demonstration position on a lending protocol — real money, so the lessons have something to show instead of only theory. I publish the results, losses included, publicly and free for everyone. It is my position and my risk, not a pooled fund.

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