Electrum wallet receiving address changed after update

[AndreyG]

Hello,

I opened Electrum wallet after not using it for ~2 years. It opened with the same address as in 2017. After I updated it to latest revision (3.3.8 ) receiving address changed. Why?

ps: information of my old transactions remains the same. So I am opening the same wallet file.

[TryNinja]

With Electrum (and most wallets), a new address is shown for every new transaction. This is the normal behavior for an Hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallet. It increases your privacy since you end up using a new address for every transaction, making it harder for people to track you (where you spend your money, etc).

If your balance is showing up, then there is nothing to worry about.

P.S: Even if it shows a new address, all your old addresses are still valid FOREVER and can be used AS MANY TIMES as you want.

P.S²: Backup your wallet seed if you haven’t already. It’s from it that your addresses are derived from. If anything happens, you can only recover your coins if you had write down your seed.

[HCP]

After I updated it to latest revision (3.3.8 ) receiving address changed. Why?

Most likely because the latest version is working "correctly"

The older version *should* have been changing the address as well, but it didn't always work properly... with the newer versions, the wallet will give you the first "unused" receiving address (where tx == 0) that it finds in the list... once it has been "used" (tx >= 1), an address should not automatically show up on the "receive" tab any longer. If it was already on the receive tab and the address receives a transaction, and then you go back to the receive tab, it will be highlighted RED to warn the user that it has already been used. If the wallet is subsequently closed and re-opened, that "used" address will then be skipped and the first unused address in the list will be shown instead.

However, as TryNinja said above... any and ALL of the address(es) shown on the "Addresses" tab will remain valid and can be used at any time.

[AndreyG]

Indeed it works as described by previous posters. Thank you for your suggestions guys!

[hugeblack]

I opened Electrum wallet after not using it for ~2 years. It opened with the same address as in 2017. After I updated it to latest revision (3.3.8 ) receiving address changed. Why?

When you update your wallet, you downloaded a new wallet with new default settings so the address changed.
If you want to use one address try >> Tools >> Preferences >> Transcations >> use change addresses >> uncheck.
You can also customize more addresses if you want but it won't be bad so don't play with default Infos.

Read more ----> https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html