$BTC Address classification and basic understanding

Legacy address

P2PKH (Pay-to-PubKey Hash): Pay public key hash address

Bitcoin native address, the earliest Bitcoin address type, starts with 1

For example: 17XZKS************************yshGt88t3

Advantages: simple, widely supported

Disadvantages: large transactions, prone to higher Gas

P2SH address

P2SH (Pay-to-Script Hash) Pay script hash address

Compared with the traditional address starting with 1, P2SH allows users to create scripts, generally used in multi-signature wallets.

Starts with 3

For example: 34UZyH***************Y2PYckQ68

Advantages: Supports more complex transaction types, such as multi-signature and scripts, and has cheaper fees

Disadvantages: More complex than P2PKH

P2WPKH and P2WSH addresses

An improvement on Segwit transactions, P2WPKH is optimized for P2PKH and can be used for simple payment public key hash transactions.

P2WSH is optimized for P2SH and can be used for more complex script transactions, similar to P2SH, but takes advantage of Segwit.

Also starts with bc1 and consists entirely of lowercase letters and numbers

For example: bc1qg7*******************m450y42mcn

Advantages: Further reduce data, reduce fees, and increase speed

Disadvantages: Requires support from wallets and infrastructure that support Segwit

Taproot main root address

Also based on Segwit, combined with Schnorr signatures and Mast technology, it improves privacy, efficiency and flexibility.

Starts with bc1p and consists entirely of lowercase letters and numbers

For example: bc1p********************erss0mvvnm

Advantages: more privacy and efficiency

Disadvantages: requires wallet and infrastructure support, may lack compatibility