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Topic: What is the difference in usage between compressed & uncompressed addresses ? (Read 1118 times)

full member
Activity: 140
Merit: 100
Format:

uncompressed: 0x80 + [32-byte secret] + [4 bytes of Hash() of previous 33 bytes], base58 encoded
compressed: 0x80 + [32-byte secret] + 0x01 + [4 bytes of Hash() previous 34 bytes], base58 encoded

secret (hex): 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
uncompressed:
secret (base58): 5HwoXVkHoRM8sL2KmNRS217n1g8mPPBomrY7yehCuXC1115WWsh
pubkey (hex): 044f355bdcb7cc0af728ef3cceb9615d90684bb5b2ca5f859ab0f0b704075871aa385b6b1b8ead8 09ca67454d9683fcf2ba03456d6fe2c4abe2b07f0fbdbb2f1c1
address (base58): 1MsHWS1BnwMc3tLE8G35UXsS58fKipzB7a
compressed:
secret (base58): KwntMbt59tTsj8xqpqYqRRWufyjGunvhSyeMo3NTYpFYzZbXJ5Hp
pubkey (hex): 034f355bdcb7cc0af728ef3cceb9615d90684bb5b2ca5f859ab0f0b704075871aa
address (base58): 1Q1pE5vPGEEMqRcVRMbtBK842Y6Pzo6nK9
copper member
Activity: 1498
Merit: 1528
No I dont escrow anymore.
Compressed address is just an added security over uncompressed addresses. It helps brute forcers to take long or infinite time to uncompress and find your private key. You can use both addresses without issues.

Wrong, compression adds no security, read the answers by Danny or CIYAM again.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 4801
The difference is in how the public key is represented when spending the bitcoins that are received at the address.

Using a compressed key address means that when you spend the bitcoins that were received at that address your transactions will be smaller, and therefore won't require as large of a transaction fee nor take up as much space in the blockchain.

Bitcoin Core supports the importing of either WIF.  While the Hex can be used to spend funds from either address, Bitcoin Core only allows the WIF to recognize and spend funds from the same type of specific address.
legendary
Activity: 1890
Merit: 1086
Ian Knowles - CIYAM Lead Developer
Private Key in Hex for Both: 5C674904D31347FD83C88CA0FDFC59E83AF748A1614721A76504E908FF87A598

Does bitcoin core support both WIF ? Can the same Hex sweep fund from both addresses ?

Yes - the same private key can be used for two addresses (one compressed and one uncompressed).
sr. member
Activity: 311
Merit: 264
Here is a sample...

Uncompressed Bitcoin Address: 17SaVf9npuG4g9pBsx44nuAqjVSfmx7UR2

Compressed Bitcoin Address: 1GMg9NbjCQbpUkQub9t8ku2rppkzYCtaAV

Private Key in WIF for Uncompressed Bitcoin Address: 5JWyuNiTvSacwBJiPs8ty1oUPEiiLicDiyv7SgE4hmvPrz5gMP6

Private Key in WIF for Compressed Bitcoin Address: KzKLAAr1psuPc8VBhvHrNEY7s9Z7U2eTAJDRSL8fLyGfuE1cvNMS

Private Key in Hex for Both: 5C674904D31347FD83C88CA0FDFC59E83AF748A1614721A76504E908FF87A598

Does bitcoin core support both WIF ? Can the same Hex sweep fund from both addresses ?
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