Address

An address in cryptocurrency is a unique identifier that allows users to send and receive cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

It functions similarly to a bank account number but for crypto transactions.

If it is linked to a wallet, an address can be shared publicly so that others can send funds securely. While addresses are made up of long strings of letters and numbers, each blockchain has its own format.

Although an address is visible to everyone, only the owner with the corresponding private key can control the assets tied to it.

Types of Blockchain Addresses

Unknown to many, blockchain addresses are also of several types based on who owns them, what they do, and some special functions.

General Types of Addresses

These are the most common types of addresses that you see on daily basis.

1. Externally Owned Accounts, EOA

These are the most common types of addresses owned by anyone outside the blockchain project. Anyone can own an EOA and start transacting on the blockchain.

2. Smart Contract Addresses

These are specific addresses assigned to smart contracts. Smart contract addresses are used to perform the automated functions that a smart contract does such as escrow, deciding a winner in crypto casinos, staking and unstaking, on-chain futures trading, lending, borrowing, managing the APY rates, managing token supply (automated), etc.

Some examples of smart contract addresses are:

1. USDT Smart Contract on Ethereum:
   • 0xdac17f958d2ee523a2206206994597c13d831ec7
2. Shiba Inu Smart Contract on Base:
   • 0x95ad61b0a150d79219dcf64e1e6cc01f0b64c4ce
3. Uniswap’s DeFi Smart Contract on Solana:
   • 8FU95xFJhUUkyyCLU13HSzDLs7oC4QZdXQHL6SCeab36
4. ALGO Token Address on Algorand Blockchain:
   • 0

Special Types of Addresses

1. Blackhole Address

Blackhole addresses, often known as dead addresses, are used to burn tokens. Tokens sent to blackhole addresses are locked permanently because, unlike other addresses, they do not have private keys at all.

These addresses can be easily identified by the unique numbers they have.

Some Blackhole addresses are:

1. Shiba Inu
   • 0xdead000000000000000042069420694206942069
   • 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000dead
   • 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
2. Ethereum
   • 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000dead
3. Solana
   • 1nc1nerator11111111111111111111111111111111

2. Master Address

These are the addresses that are used to issue tokens, deploy smart contracts, and control the token supply of cryptocurrencies (the project’s wallet). They are also externally owned accounts.

Any normal address can become a master address for a smart contract when they deploy it.

Common Address Formats

Most blockchains have separate formats for addresses, as shown below. However, some chains based on common shared technology (such as Layer-2 chains) have similar kinds of addresses.

• Ethereum: Ethereum addresses start with “0x” and are followed by 40 hexadecimal characters (e.g., 0x742d35cc6634c0532925a3b844bc454e4438f44e).
• Bitcoin: Bitcoin addresses vary, but the most common formats are those starting with “1” (legacy), “3” (P2SH), or “bc1” (Bech32 for SegWit) (e.g., bc1qar0srrr7xfkvy5l643lydnw9re59gtzzwfma4t).
• Near: NEAR Protocol addresses look like human-readable account names and typically end in “.near” (e.g., alice.near).
• Solana: Solana addresses are 44-character base58 strings (e.g., 5y7jZwxE3bqVxF8fuRfwa8A6ubPZtu7GeA77ny5fGRov).
• Algorand: Algorand addresses are 58-character strings using base32 encoding (e.g., ALGOIVMGW7HDHD7R3QRNFGNF2JN4Q33FWC5SXT3NLRKVE47NSP4G2VUDU).

Misconception: Public Keys Are Addresses

Several times addresses are thought to be the same as public key.

Public keys are identifiers (like bank account numbers) while addresses are the entity that holds your crypto (like bank accounts). They are two different things.

Similarly, a private key is a password to access the blockchain address and the funds in it.