Ethereum: How to generate a legacy receiving address in Bitcoin Core 0.19.x.x

Generating Legacy Receiving Addresses in Bitcoin Core 0.19.x.x

Bitcoin Core, the official Bitcoin client, has undergone significant updates over the years. In this article, we will explore how to generate legacy receiving addresses in Bitcoin Core 0.19.x.x.

What are Legacy Receiving Addresses?

Legacy receiving addresses, also known as Bech32 addresses, are a type of address format used by the Bitcoin network. They are designed to be more human-readable and easier to use for end-users. Unlike P2SH (Plain Turing-Complexted Sharding) addresses, which are used for transaction signing and are not directly compatible with legacy receiving addresses, Bech32 addresses can be used as both sending and receiving addresses.

How to Generate Legacy Receiving Addresses in Bitcoin Core 0.19.x.x

To generate legacy receiving addresses in Bitcoin Core 0.19.x.x:

• Make sure you have the latest updates

  : Ensure that your Bitcoin Core is up-to-date by running bitcoind --download=full and then updating to the latest version.

• Download the Bitcoin Core package for your operating system:

* On Windows: Download the bitcoin-core-0.19.1.windows.1.exe package from the official BitTorrent site.

* On macOS (with Homebrew): Run brew install bitcoin-core.

* On Linux (with apt-get or yum): Run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install bitcoin-core or sudo yum install bitcoind.

• Start Bitcoin Core: Run bitcoind --start to start the Bitcoin client.

• Enter a new session: To generate legacy receiving addresses, you will need to enter a new session using bitcoin-cli --newsession. For example: bitcoin-cli --newsession

• Use the getaddrinfo command with the bc1 format: Run bitcoin-cli --getaddrinfo --bc1 --format=legacy to generate a legacy receiving address. The output will look like this:

"Address: bc1a89cd9e54d7c758af45f4b5ab0a8bf7ac6ef56"

"Type: Legacy Address"

"ScriptPubKey: ..."

In this example, bc1 is the Bech32 prefix for legacy addresses, and a89cd9e54d7c758af45f4b5ab0a8bf7ac6ef56 is a random seed. The output also includes the scriptPubKey, which can be used to sign transactions.

Tips and Variations

• You can use the -l option with bitcoin-cli to display all legacy receiving addresses in a specific format (e.g., --format=legacyaddress).

• To generate P2SH addresses instead of Bech32 addresses, prefix your command with bc1 as shown above.

• Keep in mind that using legacy receiving addresses may not be compatible with some services or software that require P2SH addresses.

By following these steps and understanding the differences between Bech32 and P2SH addresses, you can generate legacy receiving addresses in Bitcoin Core 0.19.x.x and improve your overall experience when working with the Bitcoin network.