Bitcoin wallet address types

You may have noticed your wallets hold different addresses and address types, and that some actions you'd like to perform on web3 apps require either a Segwit address or a Taproot address. 

As an example, both Leather and Xverse have two Bitcoin addresses embedded within them, whereas with UniSat, you only specify one.

Let's take a look at which is which.

Segwit address (Payment address)

A Segwit address is used for sending and receiving BTC. It begins with bc1q. 

To find your Segwit address, go to your wallet and click on "Receive" then "Bitcoin" (this applies to most wallets). 

P2SH address (Payment address)

Some wallets, use the P2SH address for payments. This address begins with 3. 

Taproot address (Ordinals address)

A P2TR aka Taproot address, now commonly referred to as your Ordinals address, begins with bc1p.

To find your Ordinals address, click on "Receive" then "Ordinals" (applies to most wallets). 

Notice

All Bitcoin addresses can be used for Bitcoin payments, and were prior to the launch of Ordinals. However, if a Bitcoin payment is made from an address that holds Ordinals, users may inadvertently send an inscription as part of a transaction. Therefore, to make things easier, we recommend you think of your Taproot address (bc1p) as your Ordinals address, and your other address (Segwit or P2SH) as your Bitcoin address. If you need to recover Ordinals from a Bitcoin address or Bitcoin from an Ordinals address, please head over to this article.