<p>There are, broadly, three types of addresses in use at the moment:</p>

<ol>
<li>P2PKH - Pay to public key hash addresses start with a <code>1</code>, and should be accepted by essentially any service in the Bitcoin ecosystem</li>
<li>P2SH - Pay to script hash addresses are commonly used for multisig, but as of the segwit activation, they are also used for wrapped segwit addresses. These start with a <code>3</code>. In the wrapped segwit version, you get the advantage of lower fees, while still being able to send to the address from nearly all services.</li>
<li>Bech32 addresses - Starting with a <code>bc1</code>, these are also known as native segwit addresses, and offer the greatest savings in fees. However, a sizable number of services do not support withdrawals to these addresses.</li>
</ol>

<p>Generally, P2SH segwit addresses offer the best of both worlds at the moment.</p>

<p>When sending coins to a service, your choice of address does not matter. It only plays a role when receiving coins.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-27T23:35:03.717Z
Worth mentioning, re: *"When sending coins to a service, your choice of address does not matter."* -- it doesn't matter as far as them being able to receive the transaction, but it *does* matter in terms of how much you pay in tx fees. Segwit addresses (P2SH or Bech32) get a discount when spending. For quick reference: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/62053/how-do-transaction-costs-compare-between-bech32-addresses-and-legacy-bitcoin-add
chytrik
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-27T22:34:09.480Z
2019-10-27T22:34:09.480Z
Raghav Sood
<p>I am installing a mobile wallet and it ask me what type of address I want to use, I want to try and use a segwit address but is there a risk that my coins will be lost if I try to transfer fund from an exchange if they dont support it, or if I want to transfer coins from my segwit address to a legacy one.</p>

<transactions><wallet><address><exchanges><electrum>
What are the difference between a segwit and legacy wallet
Saxtheowl
# What are the difference between a segwit and legacy wallet

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-10-27)

I am installing a mobile wallet and it ask me what type of address I want to use, I want to try and use a segwit address but is there a risk that my coins will be lost if I try to transfer fund from an exchange if they dont support it, or if I want to transfer coins from my segwit address to a legacy one.

**Tags:** transactions, wallet, address, exchanges, electrum


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-10-27. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

There are, broadly, three types of addresses in use at the moment:

1. P2PKH - Pay to public key hash addresses start with a `1`, and should be accepted by essentially any service in the Bitcoin ecosystem
2. P2SH - Pay to script hash addresses are commonly used for multisig, but as of the segwit activation, they are also used for wrapped segwit addresses. These start with a `3`. In the wrapped segwit version, you get the advantage of lower fees, while still being able to send to the address from nearly all services.
3. Bech32 addresses - Starting with a `bc1`, these are also known as native segwit addresses, and offer the greatest savings in fees. However, a sizable number of services do not support withdrawals to these addresses.

Generally, P2SH segwit addresses offer the best of both worlds at the moment.

When sending coins to a service, your choice of address does not matter. It only plays a role when receiving coins.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Worth mentioning, re: *"When sending coins to a service, your choice of address does not matter."* -- it doesn't matter as far as them being able to receive the transaction, but it *does* matter in terms of how much you pay in tx fees. Segwit addresses (P2SH or Bech32) get a discount when spending. For quick reference: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/62053/how-do-transaction-costs-compare-between-bech32-addresses-and-legacy-bitcoin-add  

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