Post
Topic
Board Electrum
Re: Electrum 3.0 is out !
by
PVminer
on 02/11/2017, 07:59:02 UTC
I just created a new segwit wallet but my new address start with bc1*************** and not with 3*********
Why?

This is a native segwit standard (so called bech32 address using P2WPKH) but this is not yet supported by merchants or other wallets. The addresses starting with 3 are P2SH addresses. They can specify many things, including segwit embedded inside P2SH (P2SH-P2WPKH). I figured out how to create such a wallet in Electrum (use BIP39 seed and m/49'/1'/0' derivation path) but it may be better to wait for some more official tutorials.

Unfortunately, segwit wallets are not standardized yet and there might be problems with importing/exporting keys between wallets.