Crypto Wallet Address Examples: How to Read, Find and Check One

Every crypto transfer starts with the same small act: copying a long string of letters and numbers and pasting it somewhere. That string is a wallet address, and getting it right is the difference between a payment that arrives and one that is gone for good.

Addresses look random, but they follow strict rules. Once you can recognise the common formats, you can tell at a glance whether an address belongs to Bitcoin, Ethereum or another network, and you are far less likely to send funds to the wrong place.

What a crypto wallet address actually is

A crypto wallet address is a public identifier that other people use to send you coins or tokens. Think of it as an account number that you can share freely. It does not let anyone spend your money.

The address is derived from your public key, which in turn comes from your private key. The private key is the secret that signs transactions. The address is a shorter, safer-to-share version of the public side, usually hashed and encoded with a built-in checksum. If you want the full picture of how those pieces fit together, our guide to public keys and private keys walks through it.

One wallet can hold many addresses. Modern wallets generate them from a single recovery phrase, so you can create new receiving addresses without creating new backups.

Crypto wallet address examples by network

Each blockchain has its own address format. Here are real examples, taken from well-known public records and protocol documents, so you can see what each type looks like.

Bitcoin legacy (P2PKH): 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa. This is the address that received the reward in Bitcoin's genesis block in 2009. Legacy addresses start with "1".

Bitcoin script (P2SH): these start with "3" and were widely used for multisig setups and early wrapped SegWit wallets.

Bitcoin native SegWit (Bech32): bc1qw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kv8f3t4. This is the example address from BIP 173, the proposal that defined the format. Native SegWit addresses start with "bc1q" and use only lowercase characters.

Bitcoin Taproot (Bech32m): these start with "bc1p" and are longer, at 62 characters.

Ethereum and EVM chains: 0x5aAeb6053F3E94C9b9A09f33669435E7Ef1BeAed. This one comes from the test examples in EIP-55. Ethereum addresses are "0x" followed by 40 hexadecimal characters.

Solana: a Base58 string, usually 32 to 44 characters long, with no fixed prefix. The Solana System Program's address is simply 32 ones.

XRP: classic XRP Ledger addresses start with a lowercase "r" and are typically 25 to 35 characters long.

How to read an address before you send

The first few characters already tell you a lot. A "bc1" or "1" or "3" points to Bitcoin. A "0x" points to Ethereum or a chain that copies Ethereum's format.

Bitcoin's legacy format uses Base58, which leaves out characters that are easy to confuse: zero, capital O, capital I and lowercase l. Bech32 addresses go further and are lowercase only, with a checksum designed to catch typos.

Ethereum addresses have a clever trick of their own. EIP-55 uses a mix of upper and lowercase letters as a checksum. Wallets that support it can flag an address where a single character has been changed.

Checksums catch accidental typos. They do not catch an address that is valid but belongs to someone else, which is why the rest of this guide matters.

The same address on different networks

Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon and BNB Chain all use the same 0x address format. Your wallet address is usually identical on every one of them.

That is convenient, but it creates a common trap. If you send USDC on Polygon to an exchange that only credits deposits on Ethereum, the funds land at a valid address on a network the exchange may not be watching. Some exchanges can recover these deposits for a fee, many cannot.

The address and the network are two separate choices. Always confirm both before you hit send.

How to find your crypto wallet address

In a self-custody wallet such as MetaMask, Phantom or a hardware wallet app, look for a button labelled "Receive". The app will show your address as text and as a QR code. If the wallet supports several networks, pick the network first.

On a centralised exchange, the address lives under the deposit section. Choose the coin, then the network, and the exchange generates a deposit address for that pair. That address belongs to the exchange, not to you, and it can change.

Bitcoin wallets often show a new receiving address each time you open the Receive screen. That is normal privacy behaviour. Funds sent to older addresses from the same wallet still arrive in the same balance.

To check an address, paste it into a block explorer such as Etherscan or mempool.space. You will see its balance and every transaction it has been part of, which is also a good reminder that addresses are public.

Deposit and withdrawal addresses on exchanges

A crypto deposit address is the address an exchange gives you to receive funds into your account. A crypto withdrawal address is the external address you tell the exchange to send funds to when you move them out.

Some networks need an extra field. XRP, Stellar and a few others often require a destination tag or memo when depositing to an exchange, because the exchange uses one shared address for many customers. Leave the tag out and your deposit may sit unassigned until support sorts it out.

Many exchanges also offer withdrawal address whitelisting. Once it is turned on, funds can only be withdrawn to addresses you have approved in advance, often with a waiting period for new entries. It is one of the simplest protections against a hijacked account.

Common mistakes and scams to avoid

Crypto transactions cannot be reversed by a bank or card network. A few habits go a long way.

1. Never type an address by hand. Copy and paste it, or scan the QR code.
2. Check the first and last several characters, and a few in the middle, after pasting.
3. Send a small test amount before a large transfer to a new address.
4. Confirm the network matches on both sides, not just the token.
5. Never copy an address from your transaction history without checking it again.

That last point matters because of address poisoning. Attackers generate addresses that share the first and last characters of one you use, then send you a tiny or zero-value transaction so their lookalike appears in your history. Copy the wrong one and your next payment goes to them. The problem is serious enough that it has drawn public criticism of how explorers display these transfers, as covered in our report on CZ and Etherscan.

Clipboard malware is a related threat. It quietly swaps a copied address for one controlled by the attacker, which is another reason to compare the pasted address before you confirm.

Readable names instead of long strings

Long hex strings are hard for people to check, so naming systems have grown up around them. The Ethereum Name Service lets you register a name ending in ".eth" that points to your 0x address. Solana has a similar system with ".sol" names.

These names make sharing easier, but the wallet still sends to the underlying address. Check that the name resolves to the address you expect, especially for large amounts.

A wallet address is meant to be public. The private key and recovery phrase behind it are not. Keep that split clear, check the address and network every time, and the long string stops being something to fear.