Bitcoin Forum

How probable is it to make a typo in a BTC address and send BTC to an unintended destination?

Do BTC addresses have "error/typo correction" like credit card numbers do?

It is extremely unlikely as Bitcoin-addresses contain 4 bytes of checksum, that means that only 1 address in every 2^32 (which is ~4 billion) is valid.

For technical background see https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Technical_background_of_version_1_Bitcoin_addresses (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Technical_background_of_version_1_Bitcoin_addresses)

Yes, that's what I was wondering about: whether there is a checksum in BTC address. thanks

thanks!

To be exact, one out of 4294967296 is valid :)

If you copy and paste, it is highly probable you would have copied the address wrongly. It is unlikely to have a typo and the client identify it as valid.

Personally i have made typos in amounts but never in send address. It's highly unlikely if you just copy paste the whole string.
It could go wrong if you paste the wrong address.

You should copy and paste addresses and always at least double if not tripple check. No idea who actually types out a btc address.

The address has error correction built-in, but the problem is whether the client checks for errors? There could be clients or sites which do not check for validity of bitcoin addresses and will sent coins to wrong addresses. My frequent mistake while copying an address is 1 character short, so I normally check the first 5 and last 5 characters of an address.

I hope something like a simplier alias feature will be implemented into bitcoin or maybe a wallet to make it easier to remember or type out addresses. Maybe linking it to a number or something that you can memorize.

I made it wrong once, the last character was not copied. Took some time to have my coins back, but nothing was lost due to my mistake.

So it is a good idea always double check, even if you going into copy paste. Many sites don't have error check for Bitcoin addreses

This is an almost non existent risk i have found.  When dealing with exchanges i get error messages anytime ive entered a wrong character.  The addresses are also far too unique for there to be a accident.

There is a checksum and so it is very unlikely you can make a typo and get a wrong but valid address.
Also, you shouldn't type the address character by character but should copy and paste it. The chance of getting a typo should be fairly low.

There is a checksum in a Bitcoin address, for checking the validity of that address, so it is highly unlikely to get a different valid address by just changing a few characters. It's best to always copy-paste addresses.

You might want to use copy and paste. That way you cannot mis type your address.

it is 1 million times more likely copy the wrong address than to mistype and still have a valid address.

But paste an invalid address is unlikely if you pay attention

A lot of people actually copy and pasted the wrong address. Guess have to double check...

most of the time if you are in a rush you might miss another decimal. like 0.1 and you meant to send 0.01

When you copy and paste, basically the only things you have to do are make sure the beginning and last letters are the same and check for trailing/leading spaces. Messing that up would mean your copy-paste function is wired incorrectly  ;)

That is right, the thing is you need to be careful when you write down/copy your address. Check it once, check it twice and do not rush things up!