Reference: Address Types
Overview
Wallets for UTXO assets support a variety of receive address types. Once you create a wallet, you can generate an unlimited number of receive addresses for it. To help secure your anonymity on the blockchain, BitGo recommends using a new receive address for every deposit.
When withdrawing UTXO assets from a wallet, consolidating your balances from the receive address to the root address isn't required. Withdrawals can occur from any address type. However, your recipients may have limitations about which address types they can receive from. If you encounter this, you can generate a new receive address with a compatible address type, transfer your assets to this new receive address, and then make the withdrawal.
Receive Address Types
BitGo offers the following receive address types for UTXO assets:
| Type | Name | Chain Code | Encoding | Prefix (mainnet) | Prefix (testnet) | Privacy | Signing Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| p2sh | Legacy | 0 | Base58 | 3 | 2 | Low | Signature |
| p2shP2wsh | Wrapped Segwit | 10 | Base58 | 3 | 2 | Intermediate | Signature |
| p2wsh | Native Segwit | 20 | Bech32 | bc1q | tb1q | Higher | Signature |
| p2trMusig2 | Taproot | 40 | Bech32 | bc1p | tb1p | Highest | Signature + Nonce |
The chain code for an internal address with the same address type can be obtained by adding a 1. For example, internal p2trMusig2 is chain 41.
The address type p2tr with chain code 30 is now deprecated.
Bitcoin
On the Bitcoin network, the address type that you withdraw from significantly impacts the transaction fee. The following fee estimates are based on a fee rate of around 17 Satoshi/vByte:
| Type | Name | Support | Usage Costs (sats) |
|---|---|---|---|
| p2sh | Legacy | All wallets | 5,100 |
| p2shP2wsh | Wrapped Segwit | All wallets | 2,400 |
| p2wsh | Native Segwit | Nearly all wallets | 1,800 |
| p2trMusig2 | Taproot | Most modern wallets | 1,000 |
In addition to having lower fees, the p2trMusig2 address type also has enhanced privacy due to its transactions appearing as single-key and single-signature on chain. This is currently the default address type for bitcoin wallets at BitGo. However, older wallets might not be able to receive transactions from this address type.
Other UTXO Assets
Other UTXO assets, such as Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin, also support a subset of receive address types. However, since fees are typically less of a concern for these blockchains, the choice of address type is less relevant. BitGo wallets currently support the following:
| P2SH | P2SH-P2WSH | P2WSH | P2TR (MuSig2) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTC | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| BTG | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| LTC | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| DOGE | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| BCH | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| ZEC | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| DASH | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |