Now let’s get into different kinds of wallet addresses and what they look like. Different cryptocurrency networks use slightly different conventions for generating wallet addresses, many of which can quickly identify the cryptocurrency being used if you know what to look for. For instance, every Bitcoin address starts with either 1, 3 or bc1. Ethereum addresses always start with 0x and are 40 characters in length, excluding the prefix.
Just as there are several types of crypto wallets, there are also different types of crypto addresses, each of which functions uniquely. The four most common types of Bitcoin wallet addresses include:
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Segwit or Bech32 Address
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Legacy or P2PKH Address
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Compatibility or P2SH Address
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Taproot or BC1P Address
Note: Unless otherwise specified, all wallet addresses used in this resource were randomly pulled from various blockchain explorer tools and are used as purely an educational example. All crypto wallet addresses and their transactions are public information, as intended by blockchain creators.
Segwit or Bech32 Bitcoin addresses are the most commonly used for transactions on the Bitcoin network. This is because they are designed to limit the amount of information stored in each transaction, which reduces transaction fees. Segwit addresses all start with bc1, and look something like this: bc1d42UNb54eBiGm0qEM0h6r2h8n532to9jtp186ns
Legacy or P2PKH (pay-to-public-key-hash) addresses were the original form of crypto address when Bitcoin first launched. Since then less-expensive alternatives have come along, so Legacy addresses are less popular today because of their large transaction sizes. P2PKH addresses all start with 1, for example: 17g24tOg1URxOylEyt9v3Nps5T8CKe2Gyd
Compatibility or P2SH (pay-to-script hash) addresses are much less common for your average crypto user. They enable certain specific functionalities, such as allowing senders of crypto to require multiple digital signatures before a transaction is authorized. P2SH addresses resemble P2PKH addresses, only they start with a 3 instead of a 1. For instance: 3T74h2ClRP93NOwAviersyiWkqpHcLYBs
Taproot or BC1P addresses offer enhanced privacy for Bitcoin transactions, as well as unlock smart contract functionality for bitcoin addresses. Transaction sizes utilizing BC1P addresses fall somewhere between Legacy addresses and Bech32 addresses. All Taproot addresses start with bc1p, such as: bc1prwgcpptoxrpfl5go81wpd5qlsig5yt4g7urb45e
Ethereum blockchain addresses always start with the characters “0x” and will be some of the longest addresses, being made up of 40 characters (not including “0x”). To help make Ethereum and smart contract addresses more legible, services like Unstoppable Domains can be used to create recognizable aliases for ETH addresses. These formats apply to ETH and other ERC-20 tokens, including stablecoins. 0x7f533b5fbf6ef86c3b7df76cc27fc67744a9a760
Litecoin addresses will begin either with “l” (legacy address), “m” or “3” (P2SH addresses). ltc1qzvcgmntglcuv4smv3lzj6k8szcvsrmvk0phrr9wfq8w493r096ssm2fgsw
Bitcoin Cash addresses may sometimes look like a Bitcoin address. Since BCH was a fork of BTC, some addresses may begin with “3”. However, later on, new address formats that begin with “q” or “p” were introduced. qrvax3jgtwqssnkpctlqdl0rq7rjn0l0hgny8pt0hp
Dogecoin wallet addresses will either begin with a capital “D” followed by a lowercase letter or a number. D7wbmbjBWG5HPkT6d4gh6SdQPp6z25vcF2
