question about sending btc

[mr.mister]

Supposing I make a slight error on the send address. Lets suppose my true send address is 1nJko9385729bVFD7w but I make a mistake and I accidentally type 1nJko9385729bVFD7v <-- just an accidental change on the last character. If the second address does not belong to anyone will my bitcoin bounce back to me, or is it lost forever?


thanks in advance.

[cr1776]

There is a checksum in there so the odds of mistyping an address and having it be valid is very low.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address

[mr.mister]

There is a checksum in there so the odds of mistyping an address and having it be valid is very low.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address

So would it bounce back to me?

[DannyHamilton]

There is a checksum in there so the odds of mistyping an address and having it be valid is very low.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address

So would it bounce back to me?

No.

If you are using well written wallet software, then the software will notice the checksum error and tell you that you typed an invalid address and will refuse to do anything with it.

If you are using poorly written wallet software, then the software will create and broadcast a transaction. Depending on where you make the mistake, and what that mistake is, the bitcoins might still end up in the correct place, or they may end up in an address that nobody has access to.

[Soul Reaper]

There is a checksum in there so the odds of mistyping an address and having it be valid is very low.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address

So would it bounce back to me?

No.

If you are using well written wallet software, then the software will notice the checksum error and tell you that you typed an invalid address and will refuse to do anything with it.

If you are using poorly written wallet software, then the software will create and broadcast a transaction. Depending on where you make the mistake, and what that mistake is, the bitcoins might still end up in the correct place, or they may end up in an address that nobody has access to.

Yes I think that you are absolutely right.
If you are using a poorly managed and coded software then,
It may end up by you getting the payment even at the right place .
But if you are using a trustable wallet like blokchain etc
It is very less likely​ that you will receive the payment ,
after entering the wrong wallet address.

[DomainMagnate]

There is a checksum in there so the odds of mistyping an address and having it be valid is very low.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address

So would it bounce back to me?

The transaction will not go through if the btc address doesnt exist and btc stay in your wallet so there's no question of bouncing it back.
However if the address exist and you send btc mistakenly to that address, you will never get back it.

[Abdussamad]

There is a checksum in there so the odds of mistyping an address and having it be valid is very low.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address

So would it bounce back to me?

The transaction will not go through if the btc address doesnt exist and btc stay in your wallet so there's no question of bouncing it back.
However if the address exist and you send btc mistakenly to that address, you will never get back it.

This is wrong. BTC addresses don't have to exist before you can use them. There is no central registry that keeps track of which addresses "exist" and which don't. They don't have to be broadcast to the world before you can use them. Nothing of this sort of thing happens.

Addresses are just numbers and we encode them in base58check to prevent typos. Whatever software you use will only check whether the checksum is valid or not. It won't, and can't, make sure that somebody somewhere has access to the corresponding private key.

[DannyHamilton]

There is a checksum in there so the odds of mistyping an address and having it be valid is very low.

So would it bounce back to me?

The transaction will not go through if the btc address doesnt exist and btc stay in your wallet so there's no question of bouncing it back.
However if the address exist and you send btc mistakenly to that address, you will never get back it.

This is wrong. BTC addresses don't have to exist before you can use them. There is no central registry that keeps track of which addresses "exist" and which don't. They don't have to be broadcast to the world before you can use them. Nothing of this sort of thing happens.

Addresses are just numbers and we encode them in base58check to prevent typos. Whatever software you use will only check whether the checksum is valid or not. It won't, and can't, make sure that somebody somewhere has access to the corresponding private key.

I assume when DomainMagnate says the address "doesn't exist" he means that the checksum doesn't match and therefore the address is "invalid".

Then again he is a sig ad spammer, so he might just be making up nonsense and hoping that it sounds like a "quality post" so he can get paid.

[mr.mister]

O.K. I Think I understand, so if the bitcoin address you are sending to was not generated by a wallet or the address could not be generated by a wallet in the future at some point, it will not send.

[cr1776]

O.K. I Think I understand, so if the bitcoin address you are sending to was not generated by a wallet or the address could not be generated by a wallet in the future at some point, it will not send.

In general, yes.

The odds of changing one character in the base58 address and having it still be valid is about 1 in 4.2 billion (1 in 2^32) since it is a 32 bit checksum.  This address can be generated by a wallet, by hand or some other method, just to be clear. 

[mr.mister]

thanks!

[shield132]

There is a checksum in there so the odds of mistyping an address and having it be valid is very low.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address

So would it bounce back to me?

No.

If you are using well written wallet software, then the software will notice the checksum error and tell you that you typed an invalid address and will refuse to do anything with it.

If you are using poorly written wallet software, then the software will create and broadcast a transaction. Depending on where you make the mistake, and what that mistake is, the bitcoins might still end up in the correct place, or they may end up in an address that nobody has access to.

Which softwares are in the list of well written?
It seems funny but from online wallets, I checked blockchain.info and it has such function. If you can, link me about what is that "checksum".
How is that poorly written software to send bitcoin to adress, which doesn't exist? Also is it normall when such transaction gets confirmed? To my mind that's against transaction rules. (Sorry for my ignorance).

[DannyHamilton]

Which softwares are in the list of well written?

https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

If you can, link me about what is that "checksum".

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Technical_background_of_version_1_Bitcoin_addresses

How is that poorly written software to send bitcoin to adress, which doesn't exist?

There are no addresses in transactions.  There are no addresses in the blockchain.  Wallets convert between addresses for us humans and output scripts for the transactions.  Poorly written software won't check the checksum and will just convert the invalid address into an output script.  Depending on where you made the mistake, that might result in an unspendable output.

Also is it normall when such transaction gets confirmed?

Yes.

To my mind that's against transaction rules. (Sorry for my ignorance).

Your mind is wrong.

[mr.mister]

Just tried an experiment,


I tried to create a watching only wallet with an address one off of a real one, and the 'next' key remains gray. Once I correct to the real address, it allows you to click next. That's a good security feature.


However, lets say i send BTC to an incorrect but VALID address, how do I contact the owner of that address, to BEG for my BTC back? Can I send them a message somehow? Should I not be able to contact him or her, could I plead my case to the mining pool that processed the block, or will I just be laughed at more than likely?

[DannyHamilton]

However, lets say i send BTC to an incorrect but VALID address, how do I contact the owner of that address, to BEG for my BTC back?

Where did you get that VALID address?  You're not going to be able to just make one up by typing random characters.  You're not going to be able to create one by typing a few wrong characters.  If you have a VALID address, then you got it from somewhere.

Can I send them a message somehow?

Sure.  If you know who gave you the VALID address, then call them up or send them an email.

Should I not be able to contact him or her, could I plead my case to the mining pool that processed the block, or will I just be laughed at more than likely?

The miner of the block is unable to do anything to help you.

[Abdussamad]

There is a checksum in there so the odds of mistyping an address and having it be valid is very low.

So would it bounce back to me?

The transaction will not go through if the btc address doesnt exist and btc stay in your wallet so there's no question of bouncing it back.
However if the address exist and you send btc mistakenly to that address, you will never get back it.

This is wrong. BTC addresses don't have to exist before you can use them. There is no central registry that keeps track of which addresses "exist" and which don't. They don't have to be broadcast to the world before you can use them. Nothing of this sort of thing happens.

Addresses are just numbers and we encode them in base58check to prevent typos. Whatever software you use will only check whether the checksum is valid or not. It won't, and can't, make sure that somebody somewhere has access to the corresponding private key.

I assume when DomainMagnate says the address "doesn't exist" he means that the checksum doesn't match and therefore the address is "invalid".

Then again he is a sig ad spammer, so he might just be making up nonsense and hoping that it sounds like a "quality post" so he can get paid.

I had to clarify because it's a common misconception. People then build on that and wonder whether their wallet has to be online for them to receive bitcoin. Whether they'll lose money if they are not online. You see what I'm talking about?