Which wallet libraries officially intend to use Bech32 addresses, and will the addresses generated by them be compatible?

I use several bitcoin wallets, and I would like to try Bech32 addresses when they come out.

I initially thought to make a GitHub issue for Greenbits, but it seemed more appropriate to just ask such a specific question here:

https://github.com/greenaddress/GreenBits/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=bech32&type=

Everyone's favorite search engine is not exactly forthcoming for this:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=which+bitcoin+wallets+will+support+bech+32+addresses&t=ha&ia=web

If the answer is "none yet", that's fine, but I'd love to know.

Nathan Basanese

Posted 2017-03-29T23:24:25.853

Reputation: 303

Answers

Bech32 is an address format that was only recently proposed. While its design had input from multiple wallet authors, it is way too early to say anything about adoption.

It is important to realize that there is no hurry about this. Every usable address type is available through embedding in P2SH, which is compatible with every wallet created the past few years.

At some point we'll need the higher efficiency and security that native SegWit outputs offer, but that is dependent on SegWit both activating, and being available in both sender and receiver wallets.

Disclaimer: I'm the author of the Bech32 proposal.

Pieter Wuille

Posted 2017-03-29T23:24:25.853

Reputation: 54 032

1That seems pretty reasonable. I also registered bech32.org and .com, let me know if I should send them your way. – Nathan Basanese – 2017-04-01T05:14:37.020

Electrum 3.0 supports it now when you create a segwit wallet. I hope other wallets catch up quick!

Abdussamad

Posted 2017-03-29T23:24:25.853

Reputation: 1 850