Key Takeaways
- Tzoni Raykov lost 1,500 USDC when making a deposit to his Revolut crypto account.
- After selecting the wrong transfer network, the customer blamed Revolut’s deposit instructions.
- Because Revolut does not support bridged USDC, Raykov has been unable to recover his funds.
Losing coins when moving them between wallets is every cryptocurrency investor’s worst nightmare.
Revolut, which offers cryptocurrency exchange services within its banking app and on a desktop trading platform, has come under fire for what one user claims are confusing deposit instructions after he lost 1,500 USDC in a transfer.
Revolut Transfer Goes Wrong
Tzoni Raykov, a Bulgarian national based in the U.K., thought he did everything right when transferring USDC from an external wallet to his Revolut account in February.
Per Revolut’s deposit instructions, Raykov first sent 10 USDC on the Polygon Network as a test transfer.
After that was successful, he moved to send the rest of the funds. But this time, in an easy-to-understand mixup, instead of selecting the Polygon sidechain (Polygon PoS) from the dropdown menu, he selected another option: “Polygon (Bridged).
But when the funds weren’t credited to his account, Raykov realized something was amiss.
Crypto Investor “Powerless” After Network Mixup
In comments to the BBC, Raykov said he contacted the Revolut support team, but was told there was nothing they could do to recover his funds.
Acknowledging the confusion, one message stated: “The app currently specifies ‘Polygon’ without differentiating between standard and bridged options,” and added that Revolut would note Raykov’s feedback “for future improvements.”
Commenting on the incident, a Revolut spokesperson said the policy was “standard industry practice.”
“Due to the significant technical challenges involved in supporting every combination of token and chain, the recovery of these unsupported assets does not sit within Revolut’s scope,” they added.
Having lost $1,500, Raykov said he was left feeling “powerless.”
“When they treat you like this, it makes you feel like you can’t do anything,” he told the BBC.
Cross-Chain Stablecoin Confusion
The ability to move USDC between Polygon and Ethereum is an integral part of Circle’s cross-chain stablecoin.
Revolut does support both Ethereum and Polygon-based transfers. But only native tokens issued on each chain.
However, by selecting “Polygon (Bridged) as a transfer network, Raykov inadvertently swapped his native USDC for bridged tokens known as USDC.e.
With the advent of native USDC on Polygon, Circle is phasing out USDC.e. But during the transition period, while some apps still support bridge transfers, the multitude of token and network options continues to sow confusion.
James Morales is CCN’s blockchain and crypto policy reporter. He has been working in the news media since 2020, writing about topics such as payments, banking and financial technology. These days, he likes to explore the latest blockchain innovations and the evolving landscape of global crypto regulation.
With an educational background in social anthropology and media studies, James uses his platform as a journalist to explore how new technologies work, why they matter and how they might shape our future.
