BLOCKTRADESBitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Legacy and Segment Addresses

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4 years ago

Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Legacy and Segment Addresses

Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash addresses are tricky. They have the same name, but they were originally from the same code and their addresses are no different. The problem is, your keys in one cannot be in the other.

History

On August 1, 2017 when the BCH forked from the BTC they chose to use the same address and the key format when the BTC was still in use. The BTC subsequently moved to the Segwit address, and included new key styles.

What does this mean for you? Basically there is no legacy difference between the BCH address and the BTC address - the wallet address of the same type is valid but other blockchain alternatives, and it is not possible that your trades were mismanaged in wrong type of wallet. We would like to be warned that you should be careful if you trade with these coins, as it is also a valid transaction that will send BCH to the BTC address as well.

BCH has been able to prevent this from moving their addresses to the new Cash Address format beginning with “p” or “q” but legacy BCH addresses require support until full adoption. If you are still using a BCH address that starts with “1” or “3” you will need to check if your wallet or exchange supports the new Cash Address format, and if you can start using it to avoid hassle.

This is easy in two situations: so BCH addresses still use legacy keys, if you have a BCH address key it means you have the key to the same BTC address. They are the only couple, and you can use your BCH key in the BTC wallet to restore your Cryptocurrency.

It's more complicated. Given that the new Segwit BTC addresses have many benefits, it is unfortunately not possible for BCH. Meaning, this is not the same as the previous problem, your BTC key cannot open the same BCH address.

There are still solutions to this, but it may require help from a BTC miner or use a third party and no longer reach our services. If you find yourself in this problem the best thing to do is ask you to check “btc bch briefcase” about it and ask the BTC community for help

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Comments

Your article is meaningful and useful as some people still make mistake when using legacy addresses for BTC and BCH, especially the newbies. This article should be of help for them. Thanks for the explanations.

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