List of address prefixes - Bitcoin Wiki (2024)

Blockchain-based currencies use encoded strings, which are in a Base58Check encoding with the exception of Bech32 encodings. The encoding includes a prefix (traditionally a single version byte), which affects the leading symbol(s) in the encoded result. The following is a list of some prefixes which are in use in the reference Bitcoin codebase.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Decimal prefix	Hex	Example use	Leading symbol(s)	Example
0	00	Pubkey hash (P2PKH address)	1	`17VZNX1SN5NtKa8UQFxwQbFeFc3iqRYhem`
5	05	Script hash (P2SH address)	3	`3EktnHQD7RiAE6uzMj2ZifT9YgRrkSgzQX`
128	80	Private key (WIF, uncompressed pubkey)	5	`5Hwgr3u458GLafKBgxtssHSPqJnYoGrSzgQsPwLFhLNYskDPyyA`
133	80	Private key (WIF, uncompressed pubkey, Electrum-defined^[4] and now deprecated^[5])	5	`5TfQjD9DLFeUFmDiDrzsdtSGQss93o4pvsmQcgmjfcQVLsEgAoM`
128	80	Private key (WIF, compressed pubkey)	K or L	`L1aW4aubDFB7yfras2S1mN3bqg9nwySY8nkoLmJebSLD5BWv3ENZ`
129-134	80	Private key (WIF, compressed pubkey, Electrum-defined^[4] and now deprecated^[5])	L	`LkUevPi661korFvRdQQUkEX35rA484oAwzsT93383q6mUqVe5cw2`
135	80	Private key (WIF, compressed pubkey, Electrum-defined^[4] and now deprecated^[5])	L or M	`M3dv4iRtSKb5oHwxjZCGLai1aiZMnuLdGt7iFwjK2ncC3Vu7tRwP`
4 136 178 30	0488B21E	BIP32 pubkey	xpub	`xpub661MyMwAqRbcEYS8w7XLSVeEsBXy79zSzH1J8vCdxAZningWLdN3` `zgtU6LBpB85b3D2yc8sfvZU521AAwdZafEz7mnzBBsz4wKY5e4cp9LB`
4 136 173 228	0488ADE4	BIP32 private key	xprv	`xprv9s21ZrQH143K24Mfq5zL5MhWK9hUhhGbd45hLXo2Pq2oqzMMo63o` `StZzF93Y5wvzdUayhgkkFoicQZcP3y52uPPxFnfoLZB21Teqt1VvEHx`
111	6F	Testnet pubkey hash	m or n	`mipcBbFg9gMiCh81Kj8tqqdgoZub1ZJRfn`
196	C4	Testnet script hash	2	`2MzQwSSnBHWHqSAqtTVQ6v47XtaisrJa1Vc`
239	EF	Testnet Private key (WIF, uncompressed pubkey)	9	`92Pg46rUhgTT7romnV7iGW6W1gbGdeezqdbJCzShkCsYNzyyNcc`
239	EF	Testnet Private key (WIF, compressed pubkey)	c	`cNJFgo1driFnPcBdBX8BrJrpxchBWXwXCvNH5SoSkdcF6JXXwHMm`
4 53 135 207	043587CF	Testnet BIP32 pubkey	tpub	`tpubD6NzVbkrYhZ4WLczPJWReQycCJdd6YVWXubbVUFnJ5KgU5MDQrD9` `98ZJLNGbhd2pq7ZtDiPYTfJ7iBenLVQpYgSQqPjUsQeJXH8VQ8xA67D`
4 53 131 148	04358394	Testnet BIP32 private key	tprv	`tprv8ZgxMBicQKsPcsbCVeqqF1KVdH7gwDJbxbzpCxDUsoXHdb6SnTPY` `xdwSAKDC6KKJzv7khnNWRAJQsRA8BBQyiSfYnRt6zuu4vZQGKjeW4YF`
		Bech32 pubkey hash or script hash	bc1	`bc1qw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kv8f3t4`
		Bech32 testnet pubkey hash or script hash	tb1	`tb1qw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kxpjzsx`

Note that private keys for compressed and uncompressed bitcoin public keys use the same version byte. The reason for the compressed form starting with a different character is because a 0x01 byte is appended to the private key before base58 encoding.

The following table shows the leading symbol(s) and address length(s) for 160 bit hashes for each of the possible decimal version values:

Decimal version	Leading symbol	Address length
0	1	up to 34
1	Q-Z, a-k, m-o	33
2	o-z, 2	33 or 34
3	2	34
4	2 or 3	34
5-6	3	34
7	3 or 4	34
8	4	34
9	4 or 5	34
10-11	5	34
12	5 or 6	34
13	6	34
14	6 or 7	34
15-16	7	34
17	7 or 8	34
18	8	34
19	8 or 9	34
20-21	9	34
22	9 or A	34
23	A	34
24	A or B	34
25-26	B	34
27	B or C	34
28	C	34
29	C or D	34
30-31	D	34
32	D or E	34
33	E	34
34	E or F	34
35-36	F	34
37	F or G	34
38	G	34
39	G or H	34
40-41	H	34
42	H or J	34
43	J	34
44	J or K	34
45-46	K	34
47	K or L	34
48	L	34
49	L or M	34
50-51	M	34
52	M or N	34
53	N	34
54	N or P	34
55-56	P	34
57	P or Q	34
58	Q	34
59	Q or R	34
60-61	R	34
62	R or S	34
63	S	34
64	S or T	34
65-66	T	34
67	T or U	34
68	U	34
69	U or V	34
70-71	V	34
72	V or W	34
73	W	34
74	W or X	34
75-76	X	34
77	X or Y	34
78	Y	34
79	Y or Z	34
80-81	Z	34
82	Z or a	34
83	a	34
84	a or b	34
85	b	34
86	b or c	34
87-88	c	34
89	c or d	34
90	d	34
91	d or e	34
92-93	e	34
94	e or f	34
95	f	34
96	f or g	34
97-98	g	34
99	g or h	34
100	h	34
101	h or i	34
102-103	i	34
104	i or j	34
105	j	34
106	j or k	34
107-108	k	34
109	k or m	34
110	m	34
111	m or n	34
112-113	n	34
114	n or o	34
115	o	34
116	o or p	34
117-118	p	34
119	p or q	34
120	q	34
121	q or r	34
122-123	r	34
124	r or s	34
125	s	34
126	s or t	34
127-128	t	34
129	t or u	34
130	u	34
131	u or v	34
132-133	v	34
134	v or w	34
135	w	34
136	w or x	34
137-138	x	34
139	x or y	34
140	y	34
141	y or z	34
142-143	z	34
144	z or 2	34 or 35
145-255	2	35

References

↑ https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/26.x/src/kernel/chainparams.cpp#L144-L146
↑ https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/26.x/src/kernel/chainparams.cpp#L250-L252
↑ https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/26.x/src/kernel/chainparams.cpp#L516-L518
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 [1]
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 [2]

Bitcoin Core documentation

User documentation	Alert system • Bitcoin Core compatible devices • Data directory • Fallback Nodes • How to import private keys in Bitcoin Core 0.7+ • Installing Bitcoin Core • Running Bitcoin • Transaction fees • Vocabulary

Developer documentation	Accounts explained • API calls list • API reference (JSON-RPC) • Block chain download • Dump format • getblocktemplate • List of address prefixes • Protocol documentation • Script • Technical background of version 1 Bitcoin addresses • Testnet • Transaction Malleability • Wallet import format

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