Crypto address formats explained
- Author
- CRYPTO PORT Editorial
- Published
- Updated
- Reading time
- 4 min
In short
An address format is the notation each chain uses for destinations. Bitcoin has three families beginning 1, 3 or bc1; Ethereum-style chains use 42 characters starting 0x. Identical-looking addresses on different networks are not interchangeable, and knowing the formats prevents costly mistakes.
Key points
- Bitcoin uses the 1, 3, bc1 and bc1p families
- Ethereum-style addresses are 42 characters starting 0x
- Same 0x format, different network, different place
- A different format does not mean a different asset
Definition
The per-chain encoding rules that turn a public key or script into a receiving string, usually including a checksum so typing errors can be detected.
Bitcoin runs several formats side by side: legacy addresses starting 1, script addresses starting 3 (multisig and wrapped SegWit), native SegWit starting bc1, and Taproot starting bc1p. Newer formats generally cost less in fees, but older wallets and some exchanges still do not support them.
An Ethereum address is 0x plus 40 hex characters — the last 20 bytes of the Keccak-256 hash of the public key. EVM-compatible networks such as Arbitrum, Base, Polygon and BNB Chain use the exact same format, so the address alone tells you nothing about which network it belongs to. That ambiguity is the leading cause of misdirected transfers.
When depositing to an exchange, always pick the network on the exchange's own screen first, then copy the address it shows for that combination. Tokens issued on several chains, USDT above all, are the sharpest trap: send Ethereum USDT to a Tron-format address and recovery may be impossible.
Watch out for
- · Never retype an address; paste it and then eyeball the first and last characters
- · Send on an unsupported network and even an exchange may be unable to recover it
- · Clipboard-hijacking malware that swaps addresses is real