<p>You can leave the coins in the change address and your wallet 'should' show them as a part of your balance. Your wallet should also choose to spend those coins when needed.</p>
<p>tl;dr, a change address is just another Bitcoin address and they are equally as safe to leave you funds in.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-19T22:13:33.557Z
Not equally safe. It is safer, as Satoshi Nakamoto stated in Bitcoin whitepaper: "As an additional firewall, a new key pair should be used for each transaction to keep them from being linked to a common owner."
qpaycm
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-11T06:49:19.847Z
2024-08-11T06:49:19.847Z
Russeree
<p>I read <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/117670/why-distinguish-between-receiving-address-and-change-address">this question</a>, and although it helped clear things up, it didn't quite answer my question.</p>
<p>I inadvertently sent BTC to one of my electrum wallet's <strong>change</strong> addresses instead of a <strong>receiving</strong> address. I am asking if it is good enough to just leave the BTC in the change address, or would it be a better idea to move that BTC from the change address to a receiving address in the same wallet. Are there any negative implications of leaving BTC in a change address?</p>

<address><electrum>
Sent BTC to change address instead of a receiving address; is it ok to just leave it like that or should I move the BTC to a receiving address?
naphelge
# Sent BTC to change address instead of a receiving address; is it ok to just leave it like that or should I move the BTC to a receiving address?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-08-11)

I read [this question](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/117670/why-distinguish-between-receiving-address-and-change-address), and although it helped clear things up, it didn't quite answer my question.

I inadvertently sent BTC to one of my electrum wallet's **change** addresses instead of a **receiving** address. I am asking if it is good enough to just leave the BTC in the change address, or would it be a better idea to move that BTC from the change address to a receiving address in the same wallet. Are there any negative implications of leaving BTC in a change address?

**Tags:** address, electrum


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-08-11. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

You can leave the coins in the change address and your wallet 'should' show them as a part of your balance. Your wallet should also choose to spend those coins when needed.

tl;dr, a change address is just another Bitcoin address and they are equally as safe to leave you funds in.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Not equally safe. It is safer, as Satoshi Nakamoto stated in Bitcoin whitepaper: "As an additional firewall, a new key pair should be used for each transaction to keep them from being linked to a common owner."  

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