Bitcoin Sending Addresses: A Guide
As a Bitcoin Core user, you are probably familiar with the concept of sending bitcoins to different addresses. However, you may not know which address is used when you send less than 1 bitcoin or more than 1 bitcoin. In this article, you will learn how to determine the receiving address for your bitcoin transactions.
Understanding Bitcoin Addresses
Bitcoin addresses are 34-character strings that begin with a letter (a-z or A-Z) followed by a series of hexadecimal digits. The first character is always “1” (the decimal representation of 2^10 + 4), and each subsequent character represents a byte of the address.
For example, an address like 1A1Bc1234567d can be broken down into its component parts:
1: The letter indicating who is sending the transaction
A: A hexadecimal digit representing the sender’s balance (in this case 2^10 + 4 = 36)
1: Another hexadecimal digit representing another byte of the sender’s balance
B: A hexadecimal digit representing a third byte of the sender’s balance
c: A hexadecimal digit representing another byte of the sender’s balance
12: The first six characters represent a block number and the hash of a Merkle tree root (not relevant for this explanation)
7: Another hexadecimal digit representing another byte of the sender’s balance
Identifying the sender address
When sending bitcoins you can find the receiving address using the following methods:
- Check your Bitcoin Core wallet
: In the Bitcoin Core wallet, go to
Wallet Settings >
Addresses. Look for the transaction that shows the receiving address.
- Use the
bitcoin-qtcommand line tool: Runbitcoin-qt --addressin your terminal or command prompt. This will display the entire transaction history, including the sending and receiving addresses.
In this example:
- If you send 1 bitcoin to address A:
1A1Bc1234567d, then the receiving address is A.
- If you send more than 1 bitcoin to address B:
2A1Bc1234567d, then the receiving address is B.
Sending and receiving addresses in Bitcoin Core
In Bitcoin Core, if you want to send a transaction with multiple addresses (e.g. send 3 bitcoins to A and B), you can do so by specifying each address individually. Here is an example:
bitcoin-qt -address 1A1Bc1234567d -from -to A -amount 0.5
This command will send 0.5 bitcoins from your wallet to the specified addresses.
Conclusion
Understanding bitcoin addresses is crucial for effective and secure bitcoin transactions. Using this guide, you should now be able to identify the receiving address for your Bitcoin transactions when sending less or more than 1 Bitcoin. Remember to always use the “bitcoin-qt” command line tool or check your wallet settings to confirm transaction details.
Additional Resources
For more information on Bitcoin Core and its features, visit the [Bitcoin.org]( which provides a comprehensive guide to the platform.