Change

From Bitcoin Wiki
Revision as of 08:25, 8 November 2011 by Holy-Fire (talk | contribs) (+categories)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

When the output of a transaction is used as the input of another transaction, it must be spent in its entirety. Sometimes the coin value of the output is higher than what the user wishes to pay. In this case, the client generates a new Bitcoin address, and sends the difference back to this address. This is known as change.

The wallet file contains the private keys for change addresses, and they can receive and send coins normally. However, the GUI in the default client does not display them in the address book.