What Is A Bitcoin Address?
A Bitcoin Address, or just Address, is a 26-35 character ID for receiving bitcoin. Most bitcoin addresses begin with 1, 3, or bc1 but there are some exceptions that we go into detail on here below.
Bitcoin Addresses For Beginners
When you are just getting started, you don’t need to know everything about all of the different types of addresses but you may hear certain terms to describe addresses in different contexts. To avoid confusion, let’s stick to the basics.
All of the images below are different addresses used in different ways and contexts. You can do some experimenting with a Bitcoin block explorerWhat Is A Block Explorer? A block explorer is a browser for viewing or "exploring" all of the information on the bitcoin blockchain. With a block explorer, you can view... to view addresses and transactions.
Sending Address
A Sending Address is any address that is sending bitcoin in a transaction. It’s not a technical term but you will hear it often. In every single bitcoin transactionWhat Is A Bitcoin Transaction? A Bitcoin transaction is the transfer of bitcoin from one address to another address or when new bitcoin is created. Transactions can also be the... there is at least one sending address but there can also be multiple sending addresses. Smaller transactions typically only have a single sending address but it is common for larger transactions to have 2 or more sending addresses.
Here is an example of a transaction with a single sending address.
…and here is an example of a transaction with multiple sending addresses.
Receiving Address
A Receiving Address is any address that is receiving bitcoin in a transaction. Again, this is not a technical term but you will absolutely hear it and it is probably the first type of address that you will ever use. When you download your first bitcoin walletWhat Is A Bitcoin Wallet? A Bitcoin wallet is an app or software that enables you to send, receive, and store bitcoin. Although the term "wallet" is commonly used, bitcoin..., you will be prompted to write down your 12-24 word seed phraseWhat Is A Seed Phrase? A Bitcoin seed phrase -- also called a recovery phrase, wallet backup seed, or mnemonic phrase -- is a list of 12-24 common English words... and then you should see your very first bitcoin address. This is your receiving address and it can receive any amount of bitcoin.
One Single Receiving Address
If anyone ever moves the entire balance of an address to another, this will result in just 1 single receiving address.
Think of this as paying with exact change. You pay the exact amount that you have and as a result, there is only one single payment and no change is given.
Here is an example of a transaction with only 1 single receiving address.
2 Receiving Addresses
When you send a payment and the amount is greater than the amount being received, there is some bitcoin left over. This leftover bitcoin is often called change and it is sent to a secondary address commonly known as a change address (more on change addresses below).
Here is an example of a transaction with 2 receiving addresses. One of these addresses is the receiving address and the other is probably a change address.
Multiple Receiving Addresses
Sometimes payments are made to not just a single address, but to multiple addresses at the same time. This is incredibly useful for sending payments to multiple people at the same time.
Here is an example of a transaction with multiple receiving addresses.
Change Address
A Change Address is an address that receives any change from a bitcoin transaction. It is another common term that you are likely to hear as a beginner. When you send bitcoin, you send the entire balance from a single address to another address. If the amount that you send is greater than the amount needed at the receiving address, the remainder gets sent to a “change address”. The sender owns this change address.
Here is an example of a transaction with a change address.
One of these addresses is owned by the person receiving bitcoin and the other is for change.
Again, don’t get too confused with the more technical details of change addresses yet. As you journey further down the bitcoin rabbit hole, you will learn more about what these terms mean and how change addresses work.
Tipping or Donation Address
A Tipping or Donation Address is an address that is used to receive bitcoin tips or donations. Since it is basically free to generate a bitcoin address, many users have posted these on their websites, blogs, and social media channels to receive small tips and donations for their work.
Here is an example of a Tipping/Donation address. This was free and frictionless to create and can accept bitcoin tips and donations from anywhere in the world.
1HoDLhXMf6RxGwGmV5DX61Mfg26K45L1x1 is the address. The QR code is a visual representation of the address.
Vanity Address
A Vanity Address is an address with specialized characters that you can manually select. Common vanity addresses might begin with initials, moniker, or maybe the first few letters of your name or company.
You can only select the first few characters of a vanity address because it requires a lot of computational power to create the private keyWhat Are Bitcoin Keys? Bitcoin keys are randomly generated strings of numbers and letters that are used to send bitcoin and/or verify ownership of a bitcoin address with a digital... that generates the corresponding address. The more characters you want to select, the more difficult it becomes to create that private key.
Here is an example of a vanity address: 1HoDLhXMf6RxGwGmV5DX61Mfg26K45L1x1
This address is also the tipping address that I’ve mentioned above.
I was able to select the letters “HoDL” as the first 4 characters. Vanity addresses are just a fun way to generate some bitcoin addresses for experimenting.
If you would like to experiment with generating your own vanity address, you can use this bitcoin vanity address tool to get a basic understanding of how vanity addresses work.
BEWARE: This is a third-party service for experimentation only. They generate your private keysWhat Are Bitcoin Keys? Bitcoin keys are randomly generated strings of numbers and letters that are used to send bitcoin and/or verify ownership of a bitcoin address with a digital... on your behalf. Do NOT keep large amounts of bitcoin in a vanity address generated with this site.
Intermediate Bitcoin Addresses
Once you have an understanding of the basics of bitcoin, the next step is to learn a little bit more about all of the different applications for addresses. Some are used only by a single user while others are used by multiple users.
Here are some of the more intermediate uses, names, and applications for bitcoin addresses.
Legacy Address
A Legacy Address is the original format for a bitcoin address and always begins with the number 1. If you ever see a bitcoin address that begins with the number 1, you can be certain that this address is the original address format. While there is nothing special or unique about this type of address, it helps to know what people are talking about if you ever hear it mentioned.
Bitcoin transactions that are sent from a legacy address or to a legacy address are not able to take advantage of an upgrade commonly known as SegWit (Segregated Witness). It’s essential to not get confused with so many technical details right now. You will learn more about these terms and what they mean in the future.
MultiSig Addresses
A MultiSigWhat Is MultiSig? Multisig, short for multiple signatures, is a security measure that requires multiple signatures in order to authorize and send a bitcoin transaction. It is a feature in... Address is short for Multiple SignatureWhat Is MultiSig? Multisig, short for multiple signatures, is a security measure that requires multiple signatures in order to authorize and send a bitcoin transaction. It is a feature in... Address and it just means that you need more than one signature or person to send bitcoin from that address. Think of a MultiSig address like a debit card that requires 2 different pin numbers before any moneyWhat Is Money? Money is a tool that enables humans to perform 3 basic functions: store value, exchange value, and account for value. In order for money to perform its... can be spent.
Here is an example of a MultiSig Address. Notice how it begins with the number X. This means that X people are needed to send from this address.
MultiSig is a term that you are likely to hear in the future as more and more people are looking for more secure ways to protect their bitcoin.
Deposit Address
A Deposit address is a term used by third-party services such a Bitcoin Exchange for the address that you send to in order to make a deposit.
These are sometimes 1 unique address for each and every user but some services allow you to change your deposit address from time to time in order to preserve your privacy. We discuss this in greater detail on other pages.
Withdrawal Address
A Withdrawal Address is any address that you send to when you withdrawal from a third-party service such as a bitcoin exchangeUnderstanding Bitcoin Exchanges Bitcoin has proven itself to be one of the fastest horses in the financial arena. To keep up with the rising demand, countless Bitcoin exchanges have popped.... Unlike deposit addresses, you can have any number of withdrawal addresses if you so chose since you are able to send to whatever address you want when you make a withdrawal.
Whitelist Address
A Whitelisted Address is any address that you have identified as safe to send to from a bitcoin exchange. These are typically part of opt-in security procedures at third-party bitcoin services. To prevent you from accidentally sending bitcoin to the wrong address when you withdraw, you can use a whitelisted address.
Whitelist addresses often come with a time-lock or holding period to prevent potential hackers from being able to withdraw your bitcoin to their own address.
Blacklist Address
A Blacklist Address is any address that has been identified as forbidden or associated with criminal activity by governments, corporations, or even other users. These usually include addresses related to scams, hacks, fraud, or that you do not want to send to.
Here is an address that was related to a scam launched against Elon Musk on Twitter.
This address has likely been blacklisted by bitcoin exchangesUnderstanding Bitcoin Exchanges Bitcoin has proven itself to be one of the fastest horses in the financial arena. To keep up with the rising demand, countless Bitcoin exchanges have popped... and even by other bitcoin users.
Stealth Address
A Stealth Address is a bit of a misnomer since every single bitcoin address on the blockchainWhat Is The Blockchain? The blockchain is the public record of bitcoin transactions, which are organized into blocks that are all chronologically linked to one another. Because every block is... is public. This term generally applies to a BIP 47 Payment Code which is not technically an address at all. Stealth addresses are a protocol for generating a new address for each and every transaction that they receive. Stealth addresses require specialized wallets to create and send to which is why we consider them as an advanced address format.
If you want to publicly share your bitcoin address on your website or social media, you can use a stealth address to preserve your privacy.
Advanced Bitcoin Addresses
After you have a more intermediate understanding of Bitcoin addresses, the next step is to learn about the more advanced features of bitcoin addresses and even something called Address Encoding. The numbers and letters used in bitcoin addresses are not entirely random. They actually tell us something about the kind of address that it is and how it might be used.
Here are the advanced names for some of the address types that are mentioned above.
P2PKH Address
P2PKH (Pay To Pub Key HashWhat Is A Hash? A hash, or cryptographic hash, is a mathematical function that takes digital data of any size as an input and produces a digital output of a...) is also known as a legacy address. All P2PKH addresses begin with the number 1 and are the oldest bitcoin address format.
A P2PKH address looks like this:
P2SH Address
P2SH is short for Pay To Script Hash.
Currently researching.
A P2SH address looks like this:
P2WPKH Address
P2WPKH is short for Pay To Witness Pub Key Hash. is also known as a Native SegWit Address and always begins with the prefix “bc1”.
A P2WPKH address looks like this:
Bitcoin Address FAQ
How Do I Get A Bitcoin Address?
The first step to get a bitcoin address is to set up a bitcoin wallet. Whether you prefer to use a mobile walletWhat Is A Mobile Wallet? A mobile wallet is a bitcoin wallet that runs on a mobile device such as an iPhone, Android, or tablet. Mobile wallets are free app... on your iOS or Android device, or a desktop walletWhat Is A Desktop Wallet? A Bitcoin Desktop Wallet is a bitcoin wallet that runs on a desktop/laptop computer and provides the highest level of functionality for building and broadcasting... on your PC or Mac, there are plenty of options available. Once you’ve chosen your preferred wallet, you can generate a seed phrase which is a unique combination of words used to protect your wallet’s private key. Simply follow the wallet’s instructions to create your bitcoin address and you can receive and send bitcoin.
How Do I Send Bitcoin To An Address?
Once you have received some bitcoin at your wallet address, you are now able to send it to another bitcoin address. Then, simply scan the QR codeWhat Is A QR Code? A QR Code, short for quick response code, is a type of two-dimensional barcode that can be read by QR scanners, smartphones, tablets, and other... of the recipient’s Bitcoin address, verify the transaction amount, sign the transaction, and finally, send the transaction. But be sure to double-check everything before sending the transaction for accuracy.
Once the transaction is confirmed on the blockchain, the bitcoin will be spendable from the recipient’s wallet.
Does Your Bitcoin Address Change?
Yes, your bitcoin address will change after each transaction you receive. This feature is thanks to the Bitcoin Improvement ProposalWhat Is A BIP? BIP is short for a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal and as the name suggests, they are proposals on how the bitcoin network can be improved. BIPs are... 32 (BIP32), and helps to reduce address reuse, which can compromise your privacy. Essentially, each new transaction you receive will require a single-use address, which means that it can only be used once. This way, it becomes more challenging for anyone to track your transactions, ultimately helping to keep your bitcoin more private and secure.
What Happens If You Send Bitcoin To An Invalid Address?
Unfortunately, if you accidentally send bitcoin to an invalid address, that bitcoin is gone forever. However, most wallets have a safeguard in place to prevent this from happening called a checksumUnderstanding Bitcoin Checksums In order for bitcoin to “work” properly, there are countless small details and processes that all have to align in order to carry out each transaction running.... A simple code that ensures the accuracy of the destination address.
It’s best practice to double check all of the details of a bitcoin transaction before you finalize and send it.
Are Bitcoin Addresses Case Sensitive?
Yes, bitcoin addresses are case sensitive but not always. Legacy bitcoin addresses are case sensitive, meaning that capitalization matters when sending or receiving bitcoins. However, the new SegWit addresses are case insensitive which means that the letters need to be either all uppercase or all lowercase.
You wallet should automatically detect if an address is in an incorrect format and prevent sending any bitcoin to it if it does not meet the checksum requirements.
How Do I Find My Bitcoin Wallet Address?
Once you have downloaded a bitcoin wallet and created your seed phrase, you can view your bitcoin address by logging in to your wallet and clicking on the “Receive” button. Your bitcoin address will be displayed in both text format (for copy/paste) and a QR code (for camera phones) allowing you to receive bitcoin payments for any amount.