Quote from: Carlton Banks on November 02, 2017, 11:23:29 AM

Quote from: OmegaStarScream on November 02, 2017, 07:10:27 AM

Electrum 3.0 is out and the addresses are starting with bc1 apparently. I have a hardware wallet in the other hand where SegWit is supported too but the addresses are starting with 3 instead. What are the differences and are they compatible between each other (including the old addresses). Could I receive/send without having to worry?

The addresses starting with 3 (nested Segwit in a P2SH type) are definitely backwards compatible: older (non-Segwit) wallet software can receive BTC from your P2SH addresses, and they can send to them too.

The addresses starting bc1 (bech32 P2WPKH type) are a new Segwit only type to make addresses easier to use. They essentially make addresess case-insensitive, e.g. BC1MYNEWBITCOINADDRESSISBECH32 is the exact same address as bc1mynewbitcoinaddressisbech32

I'm sure bc1 (bech32 P2WPKH) are backwards compatible at the blockchain level, because they'd need a hard fork to implement them if not, but that doesn't mean that old wallet software will allow you to send BTC to them. Receiving from them using old wallet software may also be a problem, depending on how that specific wallet software is written. But old wallet software may be able to send or receive, to reiterate, it entirely depends on how the software was written.

It's maybe best to think of the 3 (P2SH) addresses as transitional, and the bc1 (bech32 P2WPKH) addresses as better for a post-Segwit situation (i.e. once non-Segwit addresses become atypical for users and businesses)

Hey Carlton Banks, can you explain this in simple english kindly? I am not a technical guy, don't understand the terms like P2SH etc. I have few questions, that i would like to ask.

1) What are these Segwit Addresses?
2) How are these different from normal Addresses?
3) How are the fees low compared to other addresses?
4) If i upgrade from 2.9.3 to 3.0 will i have old addresses or it will swipe them?