Making BTC addresses shorter would help

So, BTC addresses are kinda like bank account numbers, right? But I've noticed they usually have 42 characters, a mix of numbers and letters. Honestly, that's pretty long. It would be way better if they could be shortened to something like 11 characters. I mean, it's tough for people to remember or write these long addresses without messing up. I heard this story about a guy who copied the wrong BTC address, thinking it was his, and the payment went to someone else! He was waiting for his Bitcoin and then realized he got it all wrong. How do we fix this? If we can't make them shorter, maybe we could use something like phone numbers that have some letters too. That would definitely be easier than dealing with these long 42-character addresses. Just throwing my two cents out there. What do you think?

Do you that an address is even a short hand way of writing locking scripts which can be readable by human. It is a shorter way of writing the full locking script. While it’s not bad to actually have it shorter I think it’s very unnecessary because addresses are not supposed to be crammed or carried offhand reason been that the best way of using an address for privacy sake is to simply use one address for one transaction, so imagine having to keep each address offhand. As for the kind of mistakes you just described I think it most of the time has a lot to do with the way we actually use to be in haste to make transactions and errors happening that even after copying and pasting the address one forgets to double and even triple check if it is the correct one.

To me I think it will more safe when an address is short like bank account someone can easily carry it offhand and make use of it anytime but 42 digits numbers is too bad ,just check it out ,it remove someone off balance

I think you’re greatly after convince, but let me be straight, address are not just random alphanumeric characters or just an encoding of the public key rather it’s more of an instruction as to the type of locking script (we have different types of locking scripts) to place on the output. Also addresses you see also have checksums in built in them for error detections so you don’t actually just send bitcoin to invalid addresses that can be lost forever. Except there is a better way of reducing this characters and still keeping the details of address, it’s better left this way

There is more to this than your imagination, there are core reasons why the address are as long as it is I believe it gives variable layers of security to our assets than just a common short line number, there is nothing bad with the long Bitcoin address and what i also want you to do is to not evaluate Bitcoin in terms of our bank, Bitcoin transactions works with a cryptography which is different from how our banks works and more so it is not necessary for anyone to have their Bitcoin address offhand your concern should be being sure or validity of your Bitcoin address by checking and cross checking again to be sure of what you are doing.

I know you are going to mentioned the bank account as best example for proposed short Bitcoin or crypto address, he should head to exchange and use their UID then to send from the send exchange the number to send internal is not even up to 10 that Bank account number is, but as for Bitcoin original address the long string of numbers seems very ok for me.

Bank ha it own unique account number. Op, you have to know that Bank has changed it account number for twice in my country and if you come from my country you would know unless you were in your tender age when the change took place. It was longer and they reduced it to 10 digits. Bitcoin address is not for memorizing because you d you do mistake with a digit, you coins are gone and it is copy and paste whenever you want to use it. And don't copy it and save it for later or future use. You copy it from the wallet whenever you want to use it and paste in the receiving column or to the person who wants to send the coins. Bitcoin is not a traditional Bank that we write note in the banking Hall but it is a digital currency and everything is digitalize. So we copy and Paste. There is nothing using it with offhand, offhead or memorizing it.

@OP I understand the angle you are looking at it from but I also have a question for you, do you prefer a shorter Address with a weaker security or long alphanumeric address with a stronger security? I guess you would prefer the second option so there is no need for this topic Just as Zaguru12 pointed out, there is no need to memorise your address because it is suppose to be a "use once" case for the sake of privacy.

You simply do not understand btc if this is a sincere question on your part,  is what I think.

Do you realize you can use qr codes instead of the full btc addresses right? There are many free qr apps out there. Since you will he using your btc addresses, they are safe too. (Do not use those apps to create qr’s for your private keys) If you want simplicity, create a qr code for your address and use it. If you use the address on your pc and not giving it to other people, it doesn’t matter anyway. Just copy/paste your address. Alternatively you can use the addresses that start with 1 or 3. Thise are shorter than the addresses that start with bc

It's not. Your bank account number is given to you by a central authority, but bitcoin is decentralized and your bitcoin address is derived from your public key through some mathematical calculations and represents a locking script. The big number of characters in bitcoin addresses is required for the security of users. With a small number of characters, it's possible that two people end up with the same address.

The problem with it, is its higher potential to have "collisions". Firstly, addresses are either base58, bech32, bech32m (etc.) -encoded scriptPubkey which are commonly hash of a public key or a redeem script. So, reducing the length would require to use a different hash function with smaller output to make the encoded address shorter. But its implementation will not be the main issue. The issue is, if it's shorter than HASH160, the size will be significantly reduce the chance of a private key to address collision since the latter's total number of combinations will be even lower than today's common addresses. For example: There are about 2^160 possible legacy address (P2PKH). While there about about 2^256 private keys. Since the latter is a lot higher than the former, theoretically on average, there are 2^96 different private keys could generate the same address. That number is just too high that's why it still never happens. But if you try to shorten it to get to about way more than that prvkeys per address, it can get to the point that someone else's "short address" can be generated by another with a different private key.

I believe it's just mainly for more security and nothing more. Yea, it might be too long and difficult to write fine if you wish to. U remember trying to write mine down on paper, it took me minutes, I almost gave up, but finally finished it, but considering the high rate of crime, and the high value of Bitcoin, I think the high level of security is worth it. Secondly, I think BTC Address should be copied and pasted and not written and re-written. Why trying to write out, you might make mistake, so it's best you just go to your app or where it is stored and copy and then paste where ever you want it.

Address length isn't much of a thing of concern and it's pretty normal to have some addresses longer than others and that is partly a sign on the type of address and the scripting used for it's generation. Addresses are quite random based off public key hashing and if I have to put it in simple terms, it's basically a thing of  range depending on the address type. Legacy addresses are usually between 26–35, while P2SH 26–35, SegWit around 42 most times and Taproot which is the latest version is also usually the longest with around ~62 this being said if you want shorter addresses you could use the legacy derivation path but at the expense of more fees.

A BTC address is not like a bank account number. It is not like an email address or a street address. It better to think of it as an invoice number. An address has built-in error detection. It is very unlikely (though not impossible) that BTC can be sent to an address with a mistake in it. The length of an address is related to its security. It is easier to guess the private key of a shorter address because there are fewer possible addresses. Also keep in mind that: 1. Address formats are conventions used by wallets. The bitcoin protocol does not specify an address format. You are free to create and use any address format you like. 2. You don't have to use the standard 160 bit pubkey hash in a transaction, but that would make the transaction "non-standard".

Do it. Bitcoin is not owned or controlled by any person or company.  It's open source. If you want to change it, change it.  If you don't have the necessary skills to modify the programming, hire someone that does. If people like your new address system, they'll use it. Will your address system do a better job than the current checksum system of protecting users from making typing mistakes? Will your address system do a better job of preventing address collision from different private keys than the current hashing system? Will your address system still be entirely decentralized, or will it require some central authority to issue address to individuals that request them? Will your address system be safer against attacks from the future of quantum computing? Explain how your system works and how it encodes the transaction locking script information losslessly. I'm eager to see what you've come up with and how it will work. Share the details. If it's truly a better design, you might even find computer programmers in this forum that would be willing to build it completely for free! Many of us would love to be a part of a project that is recognized as adding a huge improvement to the existing system. Or, are you just wishing for unicorns?  Do you have no better plan than the best plan that highly skilled software developers have implemented so far? You just like to be unhappy and complain that the universe doesn't work the way you want it to work?  In that case, this discussion probably doesn't belong in the Development & Technical Discussion section of the forum.

I don't think changing BTC address shorter like bank account would  bring any good results. BTC address isn't even meant to be remembered or written offhand it designed for Copy paste or QR, if you need a offhand writing or QR then print it and carry it with you. Btw Why would someone even need a offhand address when everything is done digitally. I Have transfer my fund almost thousand times but never made a mistake. Before transfer I dubble check the address first and last 4 digit. If you're afraid to sent big money then sent small amount to check. If someone with low brain do transection they will make this kind of mistake. I don't think there is a need to short btc address. Shorting BTC address will make many casualties and they are (fewer possible combination, address collision, Faster tracking, Less anonymity, etc.) There would be less security as compare to now. There are many alternative to this solution you just need some basic research.

sounds like youve shortened your addys to 8 digits (1st 4 last 4)anyway, so thats the same thing, is it not?

Yep, Whenever I'm about to make a transection I remember a video where a person make a biggest mistake in his life.    https://talkimg.com/images/2025/12/31/Uz3uw2.png

You probably do this so you don't fall victim to clipboard hijacker malware. Am I right? If so, it's recommended to check some characters in the middle of the address too. Chances are the attacker changes the address and the first and last few characters are still the same.