Author

Topic: is Bitcoin-address really dead if all funds are spent ? (Read 1371 times)

full member
Activity: 168
Merit: 100
Hello

i heard, that if all funds of a bitcoin-address are spent, the address is "dead"..

Is that really the case?


Thank you in advance for your feedback!

Joe

No there is nothing like that...have you ever heard of that thing...i mean did someone told you this thing...if so then this is absolutely wrong...once you have created the account by signing up on the wallet..it will remains yours forever...dosen't matters if you use it or not...if it has funds or not...it will still be yours untill and unless you give the access to someone...HAHAHAHAHA
member
Activity: 113
Merit: 29
No, once an address is created it lives forever. You just need the private key in order to spend the funds if funds there are.
hero member
Activity: 490
Merit: 501
You are probably asking what if your BTC wallet account has zero balance...will it mean that the wallet can be deactivated and hence can not be used anymore? Just like any other medium of exchange, I don't think it would be deactivated much more a Bitcoin address. I have not heard a wallet service having such a policy to their members. Smiley
hero member
Activity: 728
Merit: 537
An address doesn't just die. You can reuse it again as  much as you want.
Wallets hve the option to to generate a new address and you have the old one as well.

The theory of calculating prvate keys from signatures is still just a theory (I guess?!)

I have two addresses that I've always used.

newbie
Activity: 24
Merit: 0
Hello

i heard, that if all funds of a bitcoin-address are spent, the address is "dead"..

Is that really the case?


Thank you in advance for your feedback!

Joe

What do you mean by Dead? If you meant that the wallet address will be dead, then it won't. It will just re-generate and also you can change it for your privacy reason. It will not be that case what you are thinking.
sr. member
Activity: 728
Merit: 250
Interesting about changing the addresses, how are the addresses changed?
is it a matter of setting up a completely new wallet?
You don't need to do a thing you can generate addresses in the same wallet so the next time someone is going to send you a payment then give to them a different address you have never used in the past.
legendary
Activity: 1666
Merit: 1285
Flying Hellfish is a Commie
Personally, after I use a address once to receive and another to send I'll usually refer to it as dead as I won't be one to use it again due to privacy and not wanting people to track where my coins are going and such. I like it as it's something that stops people from connecting the dots rather easily and quickly.

So, it really matters on how you're going to use the address' and such, if you're like me then yes after you use them the address would be dead and probably would never be used by me again.

People are saying it's only a privacy concern but isn't it true that once you use your bitcoin address once it's less secure because it's encrypted differently? I swear I've read that somewhere...

Also, reusing addresses leads to higher fees in the according to bitcoin wiki https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address_reuse

It's a security concern to use different address' based on the pure fact that you'd be going ahead and using the same addy and people would just be able to connect the dots rather quickly through one of the explores' online if they'd want to track where your money is going.

sr. member
Activity: 473
Merit: 251
No, Bitcoin addresses are never dead. You can use them as often as you want and you can empty them as often as you want.
Where did you get this message that Bitcoin addresses can be become dead?
newbie
Activity: 9
Merit: 0
Maybe what you mean is that, that some wallets prevent you from reusing address; after u sent btc they create new address for you and move rest of your bitcoins (if any left) into that new address (called 'change'), so new transaction is made (send) from that new address. Old one is not dead, but hidden.
hero member
Activity: 770
Merit: 500
No . I think you misunderstood. Do you mean by "dead"? If you meant unusable, then no. You can use zero level .There is nothing that prevents you from continuing to use an address.But,some wallet providers have some restrictions so,read the policy about the wallet then create.
legendary
Activity: 1302
Merit: 1000
Always your bitcoin address has been reusable, you can use it for multiple payment options. If you find anything wrong for security reasons, then you re-generate a new address. Now every wallet has an option that you can re-generate a new address whenever you need them.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 10611
People are saying it's only a privacy concern but isn't it true that once you use your bitcoin address once it's less secure because it's encrypted differently? I swear I've read that somewhere...

Also, reusing addresses leads to higher fees in the according to bitcoin wiki https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address_reuse

the link you gave has what you read, read it again here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address_reuse#Security
it is the risk about a very small chance of a flaw in the way you generate they signatures that can make it possible to calculate the private key.

"~~Multiple situations have been found where more than one digital signature can be used to calculate the private key needed to spend bitcoins.~~While the known situations for finding the private key from signatures have been fixed, it is not prudent to assume there aren't more such situations yet unknown."

although you can see many services still use a single address with huge number of reuse eg: https://blockchain.info/address/1BitmixerEiyyp3eTLaCpgBbhYERs48qza
legendary
Activity: 966
Merit: 1042
People are saying it's only a privacy concern but isn't it true that once you use your bitcoin address once it's less secure because it's encrypted differently? I swear I've read that somewhere...

Also, reusing addresses leads to higher fees in the according to bitcoin wiki https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address_reuse
newbie
Activity: 12
Merit: 0
I think you can use the same address for ever. but you can change it for privay reason.
staff
Activity: 3458
Merit: 6793
Just writing some code
Interesting about changing the addresses, how are the addresses changed?
is it a matter of setting up a completely new wallet?
No. Wallets and addresses are not the same thing. A wallet contains multiple addresses and their respective private keys. Getting a new address is simply generating a private key, deriving the public key, and then deriving the address. The private key is then added to some storage medium so that the software knows about it.
legendary
Activity: 2380
Merit: 1343
Interesting about changing the addresses, how are the addresses changed?
is it a matter of setting up a completely new wallet?
hero member
Activity: 1792
Merit: 534
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
I think you might have misinterpreted someone here.  What they probably meant to say was that Bitcoin addresses are temporary, which is sort of true but not quite.  Every time you receive a transaction to your wallet from a new source, you need to receive from a different Bitcoin address.

You can use a static address if it's necessary (e.g. you're getting repeated payments from someone) but in most cases, you should change your address regularly.  However, if you don't care too much about your privacy and are very casual, you'll probably get away with using the same address but I wouldn't recommend it.
legendary
Activity: 2296
Merit: 1014
What do you mean by "dead"? If you mean unusable, then no. There is nothing that prevents you from continuing to use an address.
There are privacy concerns only. Other than that, you can reuse one address all the time.
staff
Activity: 3458
Merit: 6793
Just writing some code
What do you mean by "dead"? If you mean unusable, then no. There is nothing that prevents you from continuing to use an address.
member
Activity: 82
Merit: 33
Hello

i heard, that if all funds of a bitcoin-address are spent, the address is "dead"..

Is that really the case?


Thank you in advance for your feedback!

Joe
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