BTC and BCH receiving addresses

1

UPDATE ONE:

It seems I might have answered my own question. I took an address generated on bitcoin-core 0.17.1 to a BCH ATM and it would not get accepted as a valid address. I then took the same address to a BTC ATM and it was accepted as a valid address.

Therefore, is it safe to assume that the addresses generated by bitcoin-core 0.17.1 are not compatible with BCH?

If it is not copatible with BCH, why does it show up as a valid address on blockchain.info for both BTC and BCH?

ORIGINAL QUESTION:

I've just created a new receiving address in bitcoin core 0.17.1 and noticed that it starts with a 3. I then posted this address into blockchain.info to make sure no one else has miraculously generated the same address. It was a new address.

But I noticed, that the address were appearing as both a BTC and BCH address.

Does this mean I can send BTC and BCH to this address?

oshirowanen

Posted 2019-04-04T14:46:14.107

Reputation: 83

Answers

1

When Bitcoin Cash was forked they used the same address format as bitcoin. A new address format was later proposed (CashAddr) so as to lower the confusion amongst people, but legacy addresses continue to be used and people can send funds to those addresses provided.

Does this mean I can send BTC and BCH to this address?

Yes, if you control the private key related to the address you control the funds. However, care must be taken while doing that. BCH supports legacy addresses of P2PKH starting with 1 and P2SH addresses starting with 3. However, BCH does not support segwit types. By default Bitcoin Core generates a segwit address of P2SH(P2WPKH) form. BCH supports P2SH addresses (ones that start with a 3) but it doesn’t support segwit address of P2SH(P2WPKH) form which also start with a 3. To avoid ambiguity, the ATM must have shut off sending it to addresses starting with 3

Ugam Kamat

Posted 2019-04-04T14:46:14.107

Reputation: 5 180

I just went to a BCH ATM and it would not accept the address. Tried the address at a BTC ATM and it worked fine. – oshirowanen – 2019-04-04T22:18:03.237

The update to your question provided more clarity. I'm updating my answer to reflect this. By default Bitcoin Core generates a segwit address of P2SH(P2WPKH) form. BCH supports P2SH addresses (ones that start with a 3) but it doesn’t support segwit address of P2SH(P2WPKH) form which also start with a 3. To avoid ambiguity, the ATM must have shut off sending it to such addresses. – Ugam Kamat – 2019-04-05T09:57:26.960

Asked: 2019-04-04T14:46:14.107

Viewed: 152 times

Active: 2019-06-08T18:37:38.657