Latest on ATNET:

#ftx-collapse #custodial-trading
#crypto-fundamentals #yield
BTCUSD
D HIGH
D LOW

Data:   Charts:

Kc  · 09/01/22

Segwit (vs Legacy) / AltcoinTrading.NET glossary

What do crypto traders call Segwit and should you use it?
Altcoin Trading Blog

Key Points / Segwit (vs Legacy)

  1. In crypto jargon, SegWit stands for Segregated Witness.

  2. Tools for Segwit (vs Legacy): #ledger 

Segregated Witness is a network feature activated on the Bitcoin and Litecoin blockchains.

What does Segregated Witness mean?

SegWit segregates part of the data out of the transaction. It is specifically part of the transaction signature data that gets removed. As a result, the transaction is smaller in terms of bytes, and requires less network fee.

In general, segwit transactions are cheaper, and on top of that they allow certain advanced scripting. Second layer scaling solutions such as Lightning Network are among these advanced capabilities.

Should you use Segwit or Legacy?

Ultimately, it is up to you. Segwit and legacy addresses are mutually compatible.

Bitcoin network:

  • Bitcoin Legacy (P2PKH, or “pay to public key hash”): address starting with 1
  • Bitcoin Nested SegWit (P2SH, or “pay to script hash”): address starting with 3
  • Bitcoin Native SegWit (bech32, or “base32 encoded with error detection”): address start with bc1

Litecoin network:

  • Litecoin Legacy (P2PKH, or “pay to public key hash”): address starting with L
  • Litecoin Nested SegWit (P2SH, or “pay to script hash”): address starting with M or more rarely with 3

If you support second layer scaling and scripting solutions on the Bitcoin and Litecoin network, use SegWit. If you like the idea of slightly cheaper transactions, use SegWit. If you don’t really care, keep using legacy, unless you really have to.

Where to use bitcoin P2SH wallet

  • apps that use automated escrow, like localcryptos (you have no other choice there)
  • crypto trading platforms where you withdraw money often
  • crypto exchanges where you are not verified and might be required to sign a message with your address (signing is problematic with native segwit)

Try LocalCryptos!

Where to use bitcoin bech32 wallet

  • crypto trading platforms where you withdraw money often
  • crypto exchanges where you are fully verified (KYC/AML)

Where to use bitcoin legacy wallet (P2PKH)

From your private key, you can generate either address format

If you own a private key, you can choose to use Segwit or Legacy addresses with it - or both. Your wallet seed can be used to generate either address format.

The address format matters because…

  • … not all features you might want to use are available with all formats.
  • … your wallet might only support one address type at a time. Electrum wallet does this, and for you it means that if you choose to restore a seed into a SegWit wallet, your Legacy balance will not show.
  • … some exchanges will only let you send coins to a legacy wallet.

For a full list on which wallets support which address format, head over to our post about altcoin wallets.

Why do some wallets say a SegWit address is invalid?

Segwit and legacy addresses are mutually compatible. You can transfer your coin from a legacy address into a segwit address and the other way round.

That however does not mean that all wallets will let you make a transaction to any address.

Some wallets did not implement SegWit address generation yet, because it is quite a new technology and they worry about possible bugs. For instance the bloxkchain.com wallet does not support other than legacy addresses. That means they will not let you send or receive your coins from or to a segwit address.

Some wallets, and still some exchanges, will not let you withdraw coins to anything other than legacy address. This is done to minimize possible errors on part of users.

Decentralized exchanges and non-custodial trading platforms like LocalCryptos will only let you withdraw coins to SegWit addresses, because they need the scripting functionality that are enabled by SegWit.

An indepth look at Segwit (vs Legacy) is here.



Crypto classes are a real thing: What do future 'crypto experts' struggle with? - There is a crypto niche even in academia now. Who does typically take crypto courses and what kind of help do they seek?
What is Terra and How to claim Terra Airdrops? - The Terra ecosystem gives away monthly crypto to network participants in a long-running yield campaign.
3 Tips: How to vet ICOs and what to watch once you're in - To some crypto traders ICOs are so 2017, to some they are a great concept democratizing finance. There are scams and failures but one way to work with token markets is to take the past failure data and draw valuable information from them.