Wallet address

A wallet address is a public identifier where assets can be sent on a

blockchain. It is derived from a public key (which is itself derived from

a private key), then encoded according to the chain's rules. Paste an

address at tx.taxi/{address} and you are routed to the configured

explorer's address page.

Derivation differs by chain

The same private key produces different-looking addresses on different

chains because each ecosystem defines its own derivation and encoding.

• EVM addresses (Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Polygon, BSC, and other

EVM-compatible chains) are the last 20 bytes of the Keccak-256 hash of

the uncompressed secp256k1 public key, displayed as a 0x-prefixed

40-character hex string. They are case-insensitive but typically shown

in EIP-55 mixed case. The address space is

shared across all EVM chains, so the same address on

ethereum is also a valid address on

base and arbitrum one.

• Solana addresses are the raw 32-byte Ed25519 public key, encoded as

base58. They typically render as 32-44 characters. There is no separate

address derivation step; the public key is the address. See

solana.

• Bitcoin has multiple address formats, all derived from the secp256k1

public key but encoded differently. P2PKH addresses (starting with 1)

encode RIPEMD160(SHA256(pubkey)) in Base58Check. P2SH addresses (starting

with 3) encode the hash of a script. Bech32 addresses (starting with

bc1) use the segwit encoding defined by BIP-173. The same key controls

all three; see bitcoin.

Other ecosystems follow their own rules. Tron uses a Base58Check encoding

producing addresses starting with T. Cardano uses Bech32 with addr1

prefixes. TON, Sui, Aptos, and others have their own formats.

Addresses, accounts, and contracts

An address is just an identifier. What lives at that identifier depends on

the chain.

• On EVM chains, an address can be an externally-owned account (EOA), which

is controlled by a private key, or a smart contract,

which is controlled by deployed code.

• On UTXO chains, an address is a destination for outputs. The chain has no

concept of an "account balance" stored at an address; the balance is the

sum of unspent outputs sent to that address.

• On Solana, an address can be a regular account, a program (the Solana

term for a deployed contract), or a program-derived address (PDA).

Common gotchas

• An address with no on-chain activity is still a valid address. Explorers

will show "no transactions" rather than "not found".

• Sending EVM assets to an EVM address on the wrong chain typically works

technically (the address is valid) but the recipient may not control the

destination on that chain. Always confirm the chain.

• Bitcoin addresses are not interchangeable across formats. A wallet may

display the same key as a P2PKH, P2SH, or Bech32 address depending on

configuration. The funds are the same; the encoded address strings are

not.

• A wallet's public address can be derived from a public key, but going

the other way (address back to public key) is impossible without an

on-chain signature.