<p>Receiving addresses are addresses generated specifically for sharing with people to send payments to you. Change addresses are generated by your wallet automatically when you send funds to someone else. </p>

<p>To understand how change addresses work, consider this example. Say you received 0.1 BTC once, and 0.2 BTC another time. Now you have two UTXOs (unspent transaction outputs) to use to send to someone else. Now you want to send 0.25 BTC to someone. You have to use both of your outputs to have enough to send, but then you have 0.05 too much. You can't partially spend UTXOs, so what you have to do is make a transaction that spends both the 0.1 BTC UTXO and the 0.2 BTC UTXO, and sends 0.25 to the receiver and 0.05 back to yourself in a new address called the 'change' address.</p>

<p>You should not be giving addresses from the 'change' section out to other people. Use receiving addresses for receiving, and let your wallet program automatically handle change addresses.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-22T12:26:00.000Z
What will happen when you turn off change addresses in electric settings ?
frakod
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-20T10:10:18.150Z
"you should" means that technically I could, the btc would not become unusable and the app would pick it up, right? Now, what does the "Use multiple change addresses" mean?
Qwerty
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-06T19:13:07.547Z
2016-12-06T19:13:07.547Z
morsecoder
<p>I am bit confused with the change label that is inside Electrum Wallet . Can I receive bitcoin if i give this address which are under change label? What is the difference between Receiving and Change Label Address? <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/i4tS5.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/i4tS5.jpg" alt="Change Label"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-06T15:49:16.080Z
Start by reading http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/736/how-does-change-work-in-a-bitcoin-transaction
Nate Eldredge
<wallet><electrum><change>
What does change address mean inside Electrum wallet?
william Henery
# What does change address mean inside Electrum wallet?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-12-06)

I am bit confused with the change label that is inside Electrum Wallet . Can I receive bitcoin if i give this address which are under change label? What is the difference between Receiving and Change Label Address? [![Change Label](https://i.sstatic.net/i4tS5.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/i4tS5.jpg)

**Tags:** wallet, electrum, change

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Start by reading http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/736/how-does-change-work-in-a-bitcoin-transaction  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-12-06. Score: 18

Receiving addresses are addresses generated specifically for sharing with people to send payments to you. Change addresses are generated by your wallet automatically when you send funds to someone else.

To understand how change addresses work, consider this example. Say you received 0.1 BTC once, and 0.2 BTC another time. Now you have two UTXOs (unspent transaction outputs) to use to send to someone else. Now you want to send 0.25 BTC to someone. You have to use both of your outputs to have enough to send, but then you have 0.05 too much. You can't partially spend UTXOs, so what you have to do is make a transaction that spends both the 0.1 BTC UTXO and the 0.2 BTC UTXO, and sends 0.25 to the receiver and 0.05 back to yourself in a new address called the 'change' address.

You should not be giving addresses from the 'change' section out to other people. Use receiving addresses for receiving, and let your wallet program automatically handle change addresses.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: What will happen when you turn off change addresses in electric settings ?  
> **username_4**: "you should" means that technically I could, the btc would not become unusable and the app would pick it up, right? Now, what does the "Use multiple change addresses" mean?  

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