Bitcoin address checker
Paste a bitcoin address to check that its checksum is valid, see whether it is legacy, SegWit or Taproot, and whether it belongs to mainnet or testnet. The check runs in your browser and sends nothing anywhere. A balance lookup, if you ask for one, sends the address to mempool.space.
Paste an address to check it.
Bitcoin address types
| Type | Starts with | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Legacy (P2PKH) | 1 | The original format, still accepted everywhere, with the highest fees to spend from. |
| Script hash (P2SH) | 3 | Used for multisig and for nested SegWit wallets. |
| Native SegWit (P2WPKH) | bc1q | The common wallet format since 2017, with lower fees; 42 characters. |
| SegWit script (P2WSH) | bc1q | Native SegWit for scripts such as multisig; 62 characters. |
| Taproot (P2TR) | bc1p | The format added in 2021, with the smallest inputs and more private scripts. |
A valid address is not a safe address
The checker proves an address is well formed, not who controls it. Scammers send tiny amounts from addresses that look like ones you use, hoping you copy theirs from your history next time. Compare the whole address with the one your recipient gave you, not just its first and last characters.
How it works
A legacy address encodes a version byte and a 20-byte hash in base58, followed by a 4-byte checksum: the first four bytes of a double SHA-256 of the rest. A native SegWit address is bech32 (BIP 173) or, for Taproot and later versions, bech32m (BIP 350), with a 6-character checksum that is guaranteed to catch up to four mistyped characters. The checker recomputes the checksum, reads the version and the prefix (bc for mainnet, tb for testnet), and checks the length each type requires.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if a bitcoin address is valid?
Paste it into the checker. A valid checksum means the address is well formed and was almost certainly not mistyped. It cannot tell you whether the person you are paying controls it.
What happens if I send bitcoin to a mistyped address?
A wallet refuses an address whose checksum fails, so a typo almost never reaches the network. The danger is a valid address that is simply the wrong one: a payment to it cannot be reversed.
Can I send from a SegWit wallet to a legacy address?
Yes. Every mainnet address type can receive from every other; the type only changes how the coins are later spent and what that costs.
Can I see an address's balance?
Yes, with the lookup button, which asks mempool.space for the address's confirmed history. That tells mempool.space which address you are interested in, so the checker never does it on its own.
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Sources
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