What are the different bitcoin address types?

There are four main bitcoin address types, and you can tell them apart by how they begin. Legacy addresses start with 1, script addresses start with 3, native SegWit addresses start with bc1q and Taproot addresses start with bc1p. All of them receive the same bitcoin. They differ in age, fees and which wallets can send to them.

A BTC address is the destination you give someone so they can pay you, similar in role to an account number, as explained in what is a wallet address. The Bitcoin Wiki says older formats run 26 to 35 characters, most often 34. They leave out the characters 0, O, I and lowercase l to avoid mix-ups, and build in a checksum so software can catch typing errors. Addresses also do not hold balances themselves, and wallets normally use each one only once, the reason covered in why your bitcoin address keeps changing.

What is a legacy bitcoin address?

A legacy address, also called P2PKH (pay to public key hash), begins with 1 and is the original format. It locks coins to the hash of one public key. Trezor notes it is still fairly common with older wallets but is generally the most expensive type to spend from.

Addresses beginning with 3 are P2SH (pay to script hash), defined by Gavin Andresen in BIP 13 in 2011. Instead of one key, they lock coins to the hash of a script, which made multisignature and escrow setups practical. The version byte was chosen so these addresses always start with 3 on mainnet. Wallets also use them to wrap SegWit, which Trezor labels Legacy SegWit.

What is a bc1 address?

A bc1 address uses the Bech32 family of formats introduced by BIP 173 in 2017. The letters bc mark bitcoin mainnet, and the 1 separates that prefix from the data. BIP 173 moved away from the older format because mixed-case strings are hard to read aloud, type on phones and pack into QR codes. Bech32 is case-insensitive, and the Bitcoin Wiki notes older addresses are case-sensitive.

Segwit vs Taproot address: what is the difference?

A bc1q address is native SegWit version 0. A bc1p address is Taproot, SegWit version 1, encoded with Bech32m under BIP 350. BIP 350, written by Pieter Wuille, explains that the original Bech32 checksum could miss extra q characters inserted just before a final p.

Trezor uses native SegWit as its default for broad support, while Taproot adds privacy and efficiency but is not yet handled by every service. The upgrades behind each are covered in what is SegWit and what is Taproot.

What does a bitcoin address example look like?

These examples come from the Bitcoin Wiki and the BIPs, for illustration only. Never send funds to them.

• Legacy (1): 1BvBMSEYstWetqTFn5Au4m4GFg7xJaNVN2
• Script (3): 3J98t1WpEZ73CNmQviecrnyiWrnqRhWNLy
• Native SegWit (bc1q): bc1qw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kv8f3t4
• Taproot (bc1p): bc1pw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kt5nd6y