About 4 types of Bitcoin Address Formats and How to Switch them in TokenPocket.

3 min readMay 10, 2023

TokenPocket currently supports 4 types of Bitcoin address formats:

Legacy Address: also known as Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash address, is the earliest format for Bitcoin addresses. Legacy addresses start with “1” and consist of 26 to 35 characters, including numbers and uppercase letters.
SegWit (Native) Address: Segregated Witness (SegWit) is a new address format designed to improve transaction efficiency. SegWit addresses start with “bc1” or “tb1” and consist of 41 to 62 characters, including numbers, and lowercase letters.
SegWit (Compatible) Address: SegWit (Compatible) is a hybrid format combining Legacy and SegWit addresses. It starts with “3” and consists of 26 to 35 characters, including numbers and uppercase letters.
Taproot Address: Bitcoin Taproot is a significant upgrade to the Bitcoin protocol to improve its privacy, security, and scalability. It was activated in November 2021 and is the second major upgrade to Bitcoin since the SegWit upgrade in 2017. Taproot addresses typically start with “bc1” representing the SegWit address format. bc1 offers more benefits such as higher capacity and lower transaction fees.

Can we transfer between these address formats?

Bitcoin Legacy addresses, SegWit (compatible) addresses, SegWit (native) addresses, and Taproot addresses can all be used to transfer between each other.

This is because they all use the same underlying cryptographic techniques and protocols for transactions. However, it should be noted that different types of address transfers may incur different mining fees, with SegWit typically being less expensive. Additionally, in practical operations, it is necessary to choose the appropriate transfer method based on specific circumstances to ensure the security and timely confirmation of transactions.

How to switch them in TokenPocket? (Android)

Open TokenPocket’s Bitcoin wallet, and tap [Receive] on the Assets page, you can see that the default address format is SegWit(Compatible), and if you want to switch the address format, tap the button directly and select your Bitcoin address format.

How to switch them in TokenPocket? (iOS)

Open TokenPocket’s Bitcoin wallet, and tap [Receive] on the Assets page, you can see that the default address format is SegWit(Compatible) and if you want to switch the address format, tap […] on the upper right corner.

2. Then, tap [Address Management], and tap the [Address Type].

3. You can see 4 types of Bitcoin Address Formats on this page choose the format you want to use, then go back to the receiving page, and you can see the format has been switched successfully. (Take Taproot as an example here)

About TokenPocket

TokenPocket is the world’s leading multi-chain self-custodial wallet, which supports mainstream public chains including BTC, ETH, BSC, TRON, Polygon, Solana, HECO, Klaytn, Avalanche, OKC, HSC, Fantom, Polkadot, Kusama, etc. The trinity of TokenPocket mobile wallet, chrome extension wallet, and hardware wallet has been formally formed. The Secret Recovery Phrase and Private Key are stored in the user’s own device and the user can fully control his own crypto assets. TokenPocket has provided reliable services for over 20 million users around the world. The number of monthly active users exceeds 3.5 million and the users are located in more than 200 countries around the world.