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Topic: Why does Bitcoin have multiple addresses (Legacy, Bech32)? (Read 133 times)

legendary
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In bitcoin transactions, we actually have scripts, not addresses. Addresses are human readable format of standard scripts.
Different standard scripts lead to different types of addresses and that's why we have multiple types of addresses.
legendary
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Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
Later on it was soft forked to native segwit which starts with "bc".
bc1, not bc.
hero member
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As the title suggests, I would like to know why a single cryptocurrency has multiple types of addresses.

Malleability issues has actually been the main reason why there is soft forks like this, it is just to try to reduce the weight of transaction on a block while carrying out transactions so as to create enough space for more transactions to be filled into a block and thereby easing the congestion on the bitcoin network.

I would also like to know if we risk losing our cryptocurrency if we accidentally use a Bech32 address instead of a Legacy address.

Any bitcoin sent to an address  from a wallet which its seed phrase or private key is known is never lost except if you are sending to a totally wrong address which is not known

What is the advantage of using one over the other?😊

To cut cost of transaction fees as the new forks (SEGWIT) are more cost effective than the other formats. The the SegWit also has their own differences with taproot addresses best used for transaction with multiple inputs and less outputs while the native SegWit are best used for low input and multiple outputs.

SegWit address uses low fee when making transactions from this address because it occups small space in the blockchain compared to Legacy address.


It is not the size that is even reduced in SegWit transactions that makes its fee effective and it doesn’t actually occupy less space than legacy transactions but rather the SegWit transactions have less weight than legacy transactions and since the new fork actually calculate fees base on weight the segwit transactions are cost effective
hero member
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Mia's Creative
The legacy address was the very first address format used by the bitcoin network. It begins with a "1" however during periods of around 2016 when bitcoin first started to have congestion problems, developers had to look for a way to fix it and thankfully the bitcoin network makes use of forks giving you the ability to adjust certain things on the network.

Around august 2017 bitcoin fork was implemented for the SEGWIT supported addresses which allowed the segregation of witness data in a transaction making it occupy less space on the block chain thus reducing congestions. The SEGWIT supported addresses starts with "3". Later on it was soft forked to native segwit which starts with "bc1".
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 4795
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
As the title suggests, I would like to know why a single cryptocurrency has multiple types of addresses.
It is as a result of new proposals to reduce bitcoin transaction fee and to fix vulnerability. The last ones for now which were segwits have the lowest fee.

I would also like to know if we risk losing our cryptocurrency if we accidentally use a Bech32 address instead of a Legacy address.
If you use a noncustodial wallet, you have nothing to lose. You can send from one type of address to a different type of address.

How can we differentiate between these two addresses? Are there other types as well?
hd49728 is right about this. Read his post. But know that both native segwit and pay-to-taproot are both segwit.

What is the advantage of using one over the other?
Low transaction fee. Segwits have the lowest fee.
hero member
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Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
How can we differentiate between these two addresses? Are there other types as well?
Bech32 address starts with bc1, while legacy address starts with 1

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I would also like to know if we risk losing our cryptocurrency if we accidentally use a Bech32 address instead of a Legacy address.

It's very risky when you send your bitcoin to a wrong address, because you will lose your coins, only if the owner of the wallet decides to return back your bitcoin to the address that sent it. If you are to send your bitcoin to a legacy address of your wallet, and you send it to a sewgi wallet address that is yours, your coins will be in your wallet that has the segwit bech32 address. But if it is not your wallet address, you have lost your coins.

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What is the advantage of using one over the other?😊
SegWit address uses low fee when making transactions from this address because it occups small space in the blockchain compared to Legacy address.
legendary
Activity: 2044
Merit: 1018
Not your keys, not your coins!
As the title suggests, I would like to know why a single cryptocurrency has multiple types of addresses.

I would also like to know if we risk losing our cryptocurrency if we accidentally use a Bech32 address instead of a Legacy address.

How can we differentiate between these two addresses? Are there other types as well?

What is the advantage of using one over the other?😊
List of Bitcoin address prefixes
Types of Bitcoin addresses

Legacy (P2PKH) starts with 1.
Nested Segwit (P2SH) starts with 3.
Native Segwit (P2WPKH) starts with bc1q.
Taproot (P2TR) starts with bc1p.

Segwit addresses Bech32 and Bech32m are best for your transaction fees but they are a little different. Taproot input is 10.5 vbyte smaller than Native Segwit input, but Taproot output is 10.5 vbyte larger than 1 Native Segwit output.

So whether using Taproot or Native Segwit is better for transaction fees, it depends on inputs and outputs of your transactions. In addition, Native Segwit has better support from centralized platforms than Taproot.
hero member
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As the title suggests, I would like to know why a single cryptocurrency has multiple types of addresses.

I would also like to know if we risk losing our cryptocurrency if we accidentally use a Bech32 address instead of a Legacy address.
There’s no risk as long as the wallet is compatible. Bech32 is backward compatible, so if you send Bitcoin to a legacy address, your funds won’t be lost.
How can we differentiate between these two addresses? Are there other types as well?

Bech32 starts with bc1 , while Legacy starts with 1.

What is the advantage of using one over the other?😊

Bech32 offers significant advantages due to its improved efficiency and reduced costs.

You can read this ; https://pixeldimes.com/bitcoin-address-formats-transitioning-from-legacy-to-bech32/
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As the title suggests, I would like to know why a single cryptocurrency has multiple types of addresses.

I would also like to know if we risk losing our cryptocurrency if we accidentally use a Bech32 address instead of a Legacy address.

How can we differentiate between these two addresses? Are there other types as well?

What is the advantage of using one over the other?😊
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