What happens if I send a Bitcoin to an address no one owns?

4

Say I send 1.0 BTC to a Bitcoin address that is valid but has never been used yet.

  1. Does that 1.0 BTC effectively disappear? Or will the transaction fail?
  2. If the transaction succeeds, could someone eventually start using that address and claim that 1.0 BTC?

Travis Webb

Posted 2014-02-16T01:52:01.670

Reputation: 240

possible duplicate of Can a new wallet receive money that was sent to it before the wallet was created?

– Greg Hewgill – 2014-02-16T03:41:09.630

1

@GregHewgill: Closely related, but the linked question was closed as a duplicate of a question about Hash-Collisions. I think it is closer to this one: What happens if I mistype the address when making a payment?

– Murch – 2014-02-16T10:51:08.200

Answers

7

If the address is valid, the transaction will succeed. If nobody knows the private key for that address, the money is lost forever. For all practical purposes, it's impossible to guess the key for an address that you made up.

Diego Basch

Posted 2014-02-16T01:52:01.670

Reputation: 326

Asked: 2014-02-16T01:52:01.670

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Active: 2014-02-16T03:31:00.863