I have searched about this topic on this forum but had not got appropriate discussion. I am going to share about
"change" address today. I know most of the old and senior members know about change bitcoin addresses, but this topic is dedicated to newbies.
Question is,
What is "Change" address on bitcoin wallet?If you are fully unaware of this then open your wallet software and check you're all address (you might check on Electrum or core). Now look at the below picture,
To be honest, even I was not aware of the "change" bitcoin address at the beginning. But I had noticed there was leveled "change" address but I had not bothered to know about it. But recently I have read a topic,
Lost BTC in change address, any help, please? Then I bothered to search about it, but I did not find any useful information here so I Google it and learn.
For example, you have received a transaction of 0.15
BTC from your friend and received another transaction of 0.25
BTC from other friends on a single address. Now you have 0.4
BTC unspent transaction outputs on your address. And you bought something for 0.3
BTC from a person. So you have to use 0.3
BTC from both unspent transactions and 0.1
BTC will remain on your wallet. But fortunately, you are not allowed to spent 0.3
BTC from two different unspent transactions. So how will you spend it now? You don't need to worry about it. When you will send a transaction for 0.3
BTC, your full amount (0.4
BTC) transaction will broadcast on the blockchain. The receiver of 0.3
BTC will receive the exact amount, and reaming 0.1
BTC (except fee) will transfer a new address, and it's called a "change" address. Transaction fee will deduct by a miner and the remaining fund will be sent to the "change" address. Change address manages by wallet software so you do not need to bother about it.
I tried to explain it simply, there was more explanation but looks a bit complicated. Hope you get the point of changing the address and about the use of it. Technically all address belongs to you whatever on your wallet and you might use them. But during receive bitcoin, you should provide receiving address instead of a change address. Let wallet manage change address. But obviously, you will receive payment even you use the "change" address to receive bitcoin but better to avoid its use by yourself.
For more details, you might read the below article,
1.
Who Needs Bitcoin Change Addresses Anyway? 2.
Five Ways to Lose Money with Bitcoin Change Addresses
Point me if any wrong info here or if I missing something, so the post will not mislead anyone (because I am not much expert.)