Bitcoin address starting with 3

[brunoshady]

How do people get a bitcoin address that starts with 3 instead of the usual 1? I've been seeing it for some time now and i'm curious

[minifrij]

I believe that a multisig address begins with a 3, and they are mostly acquired from Bit-X.

[alani123]

grenaddress also has multisig addresses starting with a 3. You could even create your own, multisig addresses aren't an exclusivity to anyone.

[brunoshady]

so what is the difference between a multisig and a normal address other than the 3?

[minifrij]

It requires 3 keys to create and requires those three signatures to agree to any funds being sent from that address.

[brunoshady]

It requires 3 keys to create and requires those three signatures to agree to any funds being sent from that address.

Can you go into more detail? specifically about the three keys?
are the public and private keys included? or just 3 private keys?

[minifrij]

It requires 3 keys to create and requires those three signatures to agree to any funds being sent from that address.

Can you go into more detail? specifically about the three keys?
are the public and private keys included? or just 3 private keys?

http://coinb.in/multisig/
3 public keys are needed, though it can also be up to about 20.

More information:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address#Multi-signature_addresses

[Amph]

a guide on how to generate one and how to spend from it

http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3712/how-can-i-create-a-multi-signature-2-of-3-transaction

[shorena]

It requires 3 keys to create and requires those three signatures to agree to any funds being sent from that address.

Can you go into more detail? specifically about the three keys?
are the public and private keys included? or just 3 private keys?

http://coinb.in/multisig/
3 public keys are needed, though it can also be up to about 20.

More information:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address#Multi-signature_addresses

Generally address starting with 3 indicate that its a pay to script hash[1] address instead of a pay to pubkey hash address. The script can be almost anything[3] and is not limited to multi signature scripts, its the most commonly used script though.


[1] https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Pay_to_script_hash
[2] https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Transaction#Pay-to-PubkeyHash
[3] even "anyone can pay" scripts.

[pooya87]

you can create a Multisig Wallet easily with electrum look at the wiki page for more information on how to do that:
http://electrum.orain.org/wiki/Multisig_Wallets

as stated on the wiki, this is mainly being used for two purposes: more security and shared funds

[BitcoinNewbie15]

As others have said, addresses that do start with a 3, are multi-signature addresses. I dont personally use multi-signature addresses, but the Bit-X campaign does use multi-sig addresses. I hear multi-signature is more secure than non multi-signature but don't quote me on that, as the information i heard may be incorrect.

[Muhammed Zakir]

It requires 3 keys to create and requires those three signatures to agree to any funds being sent from that address.

Nope. You can even create 1-of-2 multisig address and you can also create 1-of-3, 2-of-3 and 3-of-3. What you said is only about 3-of-3. In 2-of-3, for example, only 2 signatures are required to spend Bitcoin associated with it.

[minifrij]

Nope. You can even create 1-of-2 multisig address and you can also create 1-of-3, 2-of-3 and 3-of-3. What you said is only about 3-of-3. In 2-of-3, for example, only 2 signatures are required to spend Bitcoin associated with it.

I see. Apologies for the incorrect information and thank you for correcting me.

[Ivanech]

In Bitcoin-Qt, open the debug console and enter:

Code:

createmultisig 1 '["full public key or address in your wallet"]'

It'll give you a "multisig" P2SH address starting with 3 (but requiring only one signature). If you have the private key for the given public key, you'll be able to spend transactions sent to this address, but only using the raw transactions API currently. (You probably want to use addmultisigaddress instead of createmultisig if you're actually going to use the address.)

[Muhammed Zakir]

Nope. You can even create 1-of-2 multisig address and you can also create 1-of-3, 2-of-3 and 3-of-3. What you said is only about 3-of-3. In 2-of-3, for example, only 2 signatures are required to spend Bitcoin associated with it.

I see. Apologies for the incorrect information and thank you for correcting me.

Anytime.

Basically, you can create m-of-n multisig addresses, where n is less than or equal to 20 and m is less than or equal to n. To spend from a m-of-n multisig address, you need at least m out of n signature(s). To know more about the limitations of n, see http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/23893/what-are-the-limits-of-m-and-n-in-m-of-n-multisig-addresses.

Note that above detail is about raw multisig address, for P2SH multisig address, values are different. See above link to know more about it.

In Bitcoin-Qt, open the debug console and enter:

Code:

createmultisig 1 '["full public key or address in your wallet"]'

It'll give you a "multisig" P2SH address starting with 3 (but requiring only one signature). If you have the private key for the given public key, you'll be able to spend transactions sent to this address, but only using the raw transactions API currently. (You probably want to use addmultisigaddress instead of createmultisig if you're actually going to use the address.)

This is regarding Bitcoin core. If you want to test these, I suggest you to use testnet mode to avoid loosing your Bitcoins.

Once you create a multisig address, you can add that address to 'Receiving addresses' list in Bitcoin core by running below command in console.

Code:

importaddress address label

Example:

Code:

importaddress 3P8qYRHmoybU93bJN9oi1us9XMgYWRV39S BITX

[s1ng]

I believe that a multisig address begins with a 3, and they are mostly acquired from Bit-X.

or Xapo also provide multisig address begins with a 3

so is there any disadvantage for multisig address ?

[Muhammed Zakir]

I believe that a multisig address begins with a 3, and they are mostly acquired from Bit-X.

or Xapo also provide multisig address begins with a 3

so is there any disadvantage for multisig address ?

You will need to sign with more than 1 key if you have m-of-n multisig address where m is greater than 1. So you need to secure more than 1 key and that is the only disadvantage I know about.

* Edited.

[Southpaw0]

A bitcoin address starting with a 3 is a multi-sig address. Sort of rare to see since most addys start with 1 .  

[Bitdonator]

Its a multisig address. I have one ( look in my profile ) 

 I think about how to get one in my computer wallet ?
Anyone know answer  ? ? ?

[RealBitcoin]

How do people get a bitcoin address that starts with 3 instead of the usual 1? I've been seeing it for some time now and i'm curious

Not all BTC addresses start with 3, it just means they use different method to generate the private key or something like that.

It might be an invalid address, so dont send bitcoin there until you know what you doing.