If you’re new to Bitcoin you might have noticed that your addresses keep changing all the time. It’s understandable that you might be worried, but properly answering the question of why does your bitcoin address change actually requires a bit of in depth information on how Bitcoin works.
To start with though let’s just answer the simple parts of this question.
What Is A Bitcoin Wallet Address?
A Bitcoin Address is a string of 26-35 alphanumeric characters that’s used to receive bitcoins.
eg: bc1qelem0ann687r2e9jax542lja7q8cu8s35h96pc
When sending any payment you always need to know where you’re sending it to. When using the Bitcoin network this “where” is represented by a unique address. Bitcoin Wallet software is able to generate essentially infinite addresses for no cost and they are sometimes also represented as an easy to scan QR code. It goes like this:
- Wallets manage and store your Private Keys
- The wallet software uses your Private Key to create your Public Key
- The wallet software uses your Public Key to create your Bitcoin Addresses
Why Does Your Bitcoin Address Change?
Your Bitcoin wallet address can change due to two reasons which we’ll dive deeper into below, but you should know that it’s completely normal and safe. It’s a security measure provided by your wallet software and is done for your safety and greatly increases your privacy so there’s no need to worry.
Each time you receive bitcoins you should see a new address and this is OK. When you spend those funds, any leftover funds that you receive from the transaction will also be sent to a brand new address too, again this is totally normal and OK.
Now, if you’d like a full explanation of why this happens we have to get into the weeds a bit on how Bitcoin works. To start with you need to understand what a UTXO is.
