<p>"Accounts" are a concept limited to bitcoin-qt, and it's probably better to forget about them entirely.</p>

<p>Each address has a corresponding private key, that you use to move bitcoin out of that address. A wallet is simply a collection of (address, address_key) pairs.</p>

<p>Some people also use the term "wallet" to refer to the software that <strong>implements</strong> the wallet functionality.</p>

<hr>

<p>Obviously, this is a grossly simplified answer, and not strictly true, but useful if you just want to understand bitcoin superficially.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-29T01:43:23.170Z
Can you elaborate why *Accounts* should be forgotten? It is a useful feature which allows to arrange funds into buckets. Only end-single-user wallets doesn't need that feature.
jangorecki
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-13T17:48:58.270Z
2014-02-13T17:48:58.270Z
bitant
<p>I've been reading official BTC documentation and now I'm completely lost. Documentations is too tangled and written in unnecessary many words.
They have:</p>

<p><a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address" rel="noreferrer">https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address</a></p>

<p><a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Accounts_explained" rel="noreferrer">https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Accounts_explained</a> (no, actually not <em>explained</em>)</p>

<p><a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Wallet" rel="noreferrer">https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Wallet</a></p>

<p>Please, somebody tell me the difference between them in a simple manner. What's an address, an account, a wallet, and how does the keys fit in.</p>

<wallet><address><bitcoin-core-accounts>
Bitcoin - differences between address, account and wallet
Sly
# Bitcoin - differences between address, account and wallet

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-02-13)

I've been reading official BTC documentation and now I'm completely lost. Documentations is too tangled and written in unnecessary many words.
They have:

<https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address>

<https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Accounts_explained> (no, actually not *explained*)

<https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Wallet>

Please, somebody tell me the difference between them in a simple manner. What's an address, an account, a wallet, and how does the keys fit in.

**Tags:** wallet, address, bitcoin-core-accounts


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-02-13. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

"Accounts" are a concept limited to bitcoin-qt, and it's probably better to forget about them entirely.

Each address has a corresponding private key, that you use to move bitcoin out of that address. A wallet is simply a collection of (address, address\_key) pairs.

Some people also use the term "wallet" to refer to the software that **implements** the wallet functionality.

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Obviously, this is a grossly simplified answer, and not strictly true, but useful if you just want to understand bitcoin superficially.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Can you elaborate why *Accounts* should be forgotten? It is a useful feature which allows to arrange funds into buckets. Only end-single-user wallets doesn't need that feature.  

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