Pro Tip for Bitcoin: Use segwit, save on fees

[bigmarty]

For those who aren't aware, your bitcoin transactions will be about 50% cheaper when you use a segwit address.

What is segwit? It's actually pretty complicated and doesn't matter. Google if you want to know.

How can I use segwit? Many wallets already support it. Greenaddress and electrum are two of the best known wallets supporting it. Another is samourai wallet. All of them are large, secure and recommended.

Why will segwit save me money? Transaction cost is calculated based on the size of your transaction in bits. Segwit transactions put some of the transaction information in another part of the transaction. The size of your transaction will be smaller and you will be able to pay less and get your transaction through at the same speed. Or pay the same and get your transaction through faster.

Is there any downside to using segwit? No. Move your funds to a segwit wallet and never look back.

[littlekona]

At fairlay for btc deposit they give you both a legacy and segwit address attached to your account for that exact reason...I have noticed faster deposit confirmations too!

[bigmarty]

I received a Pm about this, so will just post here.

The bitcoin core wallet does not support segwit at this time.

Wallets which do support segwit:
Greenaddress.io (desktop, iOS)
Electrum (desktop)
Armory (desktop)
Samourai (android)

there are others but these are the most highly recommended.

make sure you do NOT use a bech32 address because at this time I doubt most processors working with sportsbooks will support these addresses.

[Optional]

Electrum Ver3 segwit wallet uses Bench32

I believe all the others use a "trick" to make transactions backward compatible but lose a chunk of the size saving by doing that.

[bigmarty]

Electrum Ver3 segwit wallet uses Bench32

Electrum does support bech32 wallets, but it also supports p2sh addresses (which all bookies should be able to send to)

Also I stand corrected -- apparently it is possible to generate a segwit address with the bitcoin core wallet:https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/qu...segwit-address

[hotcross]

do wallets online at Blockchain.info use SegWit addresses? Not on your list and they are pretty big in terms of users still, aren't they?

Also please give a brief instruction where to find the setting if SegWit is available at Blockchain.info

thanks

[craigpb]

do wallets online at Blockchain.info use SegWit addresses? Not on your list and they are pretty big in terms of users still, aren't they?

Also please give a brief instruction where to find the setting if SegWit is available at Blockchain.info

thanks

No they are the one of the many that have yet to upgrade. You will know because when you receive a transaction the start of the address will be a 3, not a 1.

[bigmarty]

No they are the one of the many that have yet to upgrade. You will know because when you receive a transaction the start of the address will be a 3, not a 1.

can confirm this is correct. idiots at blockchain have not enabled segwit addresses yet.

[FullStrength]

Very truthful. I've used Electrum since early 2017 and the fees are smaller.

[littlekona]

awesome tyvm for sharing!

[Optional]

Here is a an easy to understand article for laymen that will explain the likely future of SegWit and Lightning Network and what MIGHT happen with Bitcoin over the next year

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/keep-eye-out-these-bitcoins-tech-trends-2018/

Will help anyone else struggling to get their head around why SegWit happened 1st August 2017 and most of us still dont really get it or make use of it.