BTC address should be shortened.

[LOVER BOY 422]

BTC address is likely to be like a bank account,but I have seen BTC address is 42 in number both numbers and alphabet but I think is too long at list they are supposed to reduce BTC address to make it just 11 digit and number in figure because many can't carry it offhand is very difficult for someone to write down a BTC address offhand without making mistakes,their was a story shared vividly how a man has copied another address thinking to be his and the person who is supposed to pay him paid the Bitcoin in the provided address,when the man was already waiting for his money,so he called reminding the person that he hasn't seen the BTC the person keep on telling the man that he has done the transaction with prove that's when the man knows that the address he use was not his ,how can we eliminate this ,if not of to shorten the lengths of BTC address at least like phone number with some alphabetic words that will be better than 42 digits number and alphabet,this is just my opinion and suggestions,what is your take on this?

[Zaguru12]

Do you that an address is even a short hand way of writing locking scripts which can be readable by human. It is a shorter way of writing the full locking script. While it’s not bad to actually have it shorter I think it’s very unnecessary because addresses are not supposed to be crammed or carried offhand reason been that the best way of using an address for privacy sake is to simply use one address for one transaction, so imagine having to keep each address offhand.



As for the kind of mistakes you just described I think it most of the time has a lot to do with the way we actually use to be in haste to make transactions and errors happening that even after copying and pasting the address one forgets to double and even triple check if it is the correct one.

[LOVER BOY 422]

Do you that an address is even a short hand way of writing locking scripts which can be readable by human. It is a shorter way of writing the full locking script. While it’s not bad to actually have it shorter I think it’s very unnecessary because addresses are not supposed to be crammed or carried offhand reason been that the best way of using an address for privacy sake is to simply use one address for one transaction, so imagine having to keep an address offhand

To me I think it will more safe when an address is short like bank account someone can easily carry it offhand and make use of it anytime but 42 digits numbers is too bad ,just check it out ,it remove someone off balance

[Zaguru12]

To me I think it will more safe when an address is short like bank account someone can easily carry it offhand and make use of it anytime but 42 digits numbers is too bad ,just check it out ,it remove someone off balance

I think you’re greatly after convince, but let me be straight, address are not just random alphanumeric characters or just an encoding of the public key rather it’s more of an instruction as to the type of locking script (we have different types of locking scripts) to place on the output. Also addresses you see also have checksums in built in them for error detections so you don’t actually just send bitcoin to invalid addresses that can be lost forever. Except there is a better way of reducing this characters and still keeping the details of address, it’s better left this way

[Tmoonz]

Do you that an address is even a short hand way of writing locking scripts which can be readable by human. It is a shorter way of writing the full locking script. While it’s not bad to actually have it shorter I think it’s very unnecessary because addresses are not supposed to be crammed or carried offhand reason been that the best way of using an address for privacy sake is to simply use one address for one transaction, so imagine having to keep an address offhand

To me I think it will more safe when an address is short like bank account someone can easily carry it offhand and make use of it anytime but 42 digits numbers is too bad ,just check it out ,it remove someone off balance

There is more to this than your imagination, there are core reasons why the address are as long as it is I believe it gives variable layers of security to our assets than just a common short line number, there is nothing bad with the long Bitcoin address and what i also want you to do is to not evaluate Bitcoin in terms of our bank, Bitcoin transactions works with a cryptography which is different from how our banks works and more so it is not necessary for anyone to have their Bitcoin address offhand your concern should be being sure or validity of your Bitcoin address by checking and cross checking again to be sure of what you are doing.

[Odusko]

Do you that an address is even a short hand way of writing locking scripts which can be readable by human. It is a shorter way of writing the full locking script. While it’s not bad to actually have it shorter I think it’s very unnecessary because addresses are not supposed to be crammed or carried offhand reason been that the best way of using an address for privacy sake is to simply use one address for one transaction, so imagine having to keep an address offhand

To me I think it will more safe when an address is short like bank account someone can easily carry it offhand and make use of it anytime but 42 digits numbers is too bad ,just check it out ,it remove someone off balance

I know you are going to mentioned the bank account as best example for proposed short Bitcoin or crypto address, he should head to exchange and use their UID then to send from the send exchange the number to send internal is not even up to 10 that Bank account number is, but as for Bitcoin original address the long string of numbers seems very ok for me.

[Agbe]

Bank ha it own unique account number. Op, you have to know that Bank has changed it account number for twice in my country and if you come from my country you would know unless you were in your tender age when the change took place. It was longer and they reduced it to 10 digits. Bitcoin address is not for memorizing because you d you do mistake with a digit, you coins are gone and it is copy and paste whenever you want to use it. And don't copy it and save it for later or future use. You copy it from the wallet whenever you want to use it and paste in the receiving column or to the person who wants to send the coins. Bitcoin is not a traditional Bank that we write note in the banking Hall but it is a digital currency and everything is digitalize. So we copy and Paste. There is nothing using it with offhand, offhead or memorizing it.

[Alvin_talk]

@OP I understand the angle you are looking at it from but I also have a question for you, do you prefer a shorter Address with a weaker security or long alphanumeric address with a stronger security? I guess you would prefer the second option so there is no need for this topic

Just as Zaguru12 pointed out, there is no need to memorise your address because it is suppose to be a "use once" case for the sake of privacy.

[philipma1957]

BTC address is likely to be like a bank account,but I have seen BTC address is 42 in number both numbers and alphabet but I think is too long at list they are supposed to reduce BTC address to make it just 11 digit and number in figure because many can't carry it offhand is very difficult for someone to write down a BTC address offhand without making mistakes,their was a story shared vividly how a man has copied another address thinking to be his and the person who is supposed to pay him paid the Bitcoin in the provided address,when the man was already waiting for his money,so he called reminding the person that he hasn't seen the BTC the person keep on telling the man that he has done the transaction with prove that's when the man knows that the address he use was not his ,how can we eliminate this ,if not of to shorten the lengths of BTC address at least like phone number with some alphabetic words that will be better than 42 digits number and alphabet,this is just my opinion and suggestions,what is your take on this?

You simply do not understand btc if this is a sincere question on your part,  is what I think.

[mindrust]

Do you realize you can use qr codes instead of the full btc addresses right? There are many free qr apps out there. Since you will he using your btc addresses, they are safe too. (Do not use those apps to create qr’s for your private keys) If you want simplicity, create a qr code for your address and use it. If you use the address on your pc and not giving it to other people, it doesn’t matter anyway. Just copy/paste your address.

Alternatively you can use the addresses that start with 1 or 3. Thise are shorter than the addresses that start with bc

[hosemary]

BTC address is likely to be like a bank account,but I have seen BTC address is 42 in number both numbers and alphabet

It's not.
Your bank account number is given to you by a central authority, but bitcoin is decentralized and your bitcoin address is derived from your public key through some mathematical calculations and represents a locking script.
The big number of characters in bitcoin addresses is required for the security of users. With a small number of characters, it's possible that two people end up with the same address.

[nc50lc]

To me I think it will more safe when an address is short like bank account someone can easily carry it offhand and make use of it anytime but 42 digits numbers is too bad ,just check it out ,it remove someone off balance

The problem with it, is its higher potential to have "collisions".

Firstly, addresses are either base58, bech32, bech32m (etc.) -encoded scriptPubkey which are commonly hash of a public key or a redeem script.
So, reducing the length would require to use a different hash function with smaller output to make the encoded address shorter.
But its implementation will not be the main issue.
The issue is, if it's shorter than HASH160, the size will be significantly reduce the chance of a private key to address collision since the latter's total number of combinations will be even lower than today's common addresses.

For example:
There are about 2^160 possible legacy address (P2PKH).
While there about about 2^256 private keys.
Since the latter is a lot higher than the former, theoretically on average, there are 2^96 different private keys could generate the same address.

That number is just too high that's why it still never happens.
But if you try to shorten it to get to about way more than that prvkeys per address, it can get to the point that someone else's "short address" can be generated by another with a different private key.

[Bigjoe33]

Do you that an address is even a short hand way of writing locking scripts which can be readable by human. It is a shorter way of writing the full locking script. While it’s not bad to actually have it shorter I think it’s very unnecessary because addresses are not supposed to be crammed or carried offhand reason been that the best way of using an address for privacy sake is to simply use one address for one transaction, so imagine having to keep an address offhand

To me I think it will more safe when an address is short like bank account someone can easily carry it offhand and make use of it anytime but 42 digits numbers is too bad ,just check it out ,it remove someone off balance

I know you are going to mentioned the bank account as best example for proposed short Bitcoin or crypto address, he should head to exchange and use their UID then to send from the send exchange the number to send internal is not even up to 10 that Bank account number is, but as for Bitcoin original address the long string of numbers seems very ok for me.

I believe it's just mainly for more security and nothing more. Yea, it might be too long and difficult to write fine if you wish to. U remember trying to write mine down on paper, it took me minutes, I almost gave up, but finally finished it, but considering the high rate of crime, and the high value of Bitcoin, I think the high level of security is worth it.

Secondly, I think BTC Address should be copied and pasted and not written and re-written. Why trying to write out, you might make mistake, so it's best you just go to your app or where it is stored and copy and then paste where ever you want it.

[Mia Chloe]

~snip

Address length isn't much of a thing of concern and it's pretty normal to have some addresses longer than others and that is partly a sign on the type of address and the scripting used for it's generation. Addresses are quite random based off public key hashing and if I have to put it in simple terms, it's basically a thing of  range depending on the address type.

Legacy addresses are usually between 26–35, while P2SH 26–35, SegWit around 42 most times and Taproot which is the latest version is also usually the longest with around ~62 this being said if you want shorter addresses you could use the legacy derivation path but at the expense of more fees.