List of address prefixes

Blockchain-based currencies use encoded strings, which are in a Base58Check encoding with the exception of Bech32 encodings. The encoding includes a prefix (traditionally a single version byte), which affects the leading symbol(s) in the encoded result. The following is a list of some prefixes which are in use in the reference Bitcoin codebase.

Decimal prefix	Hex	Example use	Leading symbol(s)	Example
0	00	Pubkey hash (P2PKH address)	1	17VZNX1SN5NtKa8UQFxwQbFeFc3iqRYhem
5	05	Script hash (P2SH address)	3	3EktnHQD7RiAE6uzMj2ZifT9YgRrkSgzQX
128	80	Private key (WIF, uncompressed pubkey)	5	5Hwgr3u458GLafKBgxtssHSPqJnYoGrSzgQsPwLFhLNYskDPyyA
133	80	Private key (WIF, uncompressed pubkey, Electrum-defined and now deprecated)	5	5TfQjD9DLFeUFmDiDrzsdtSGQss93o4pvsmQcgmjfcQVLsEgAoM
128	80	Private key (WIF, compressed pubkey)	K or L	L1aW4aubDFB7yfras2S1mN3bqg9nwySY8nkoLmJebSLD5BWv3ENZ
129-134	80	Private key (WIF, compressed pubkey, Electrum-defined and now deprecated)	L	LkUevPi661korFvRdQQUkEX35rA484oAwzsT93383q6mUqVe5cw2
135	80	Private key (WIF, compressed pubkey, Electrum-defined and now deprecated)	L or M	M3dv4iRtSKb5oHwxjZCGLai1aiZMnuLdGt7iFwjK2ncC3Vu7tRwP
4 136 178 30	0488B21E	BIP32 pubkey	xpub	xpub661MyMwAqRbcEYS8w7XLSVeEsBXy79zSzH1J8vCdxAZningWLdN3 zgtU6LBpB85b3D2yc8sfvZU521AAwdZafEz7mnzBBsz4wKY5e4cp9LB
4 136 173 228	0488ADE4	BIP32 private key	xprv	xprv9s21ZrQH143K24Mfq5zL5MhWK9hUhhGbd45hLXo2Pq2oqzMMo63o StZzF93Y5wvzdUayhgkkFoicQZcP3y52uPPxFnfoLZB21Teqt1VvEHx
111	6F	Testnet pubkey hash	m or n	mipcBbFg9gMiCh81Kj8tqqdgoZub1ZJRfn
196	C4	Testnet script hash	2	2MzQwSSnBHWHqSAqtTVQ6v47XtaisrJa1Vc
239	EF	Testnet Private key (WIF, uncompressed pubkey)	9	92Pg46rUhgTT7romnV7iGW6W1gbGdeezqdbJCzShkCsYNzyyNcc
239	EF	Testnet Private key (WIF, compressed pubkey)	c	cNJFgo1driFnPcBdBX8BrJrpxchBWXwXCvNH5SoSkdcF6JXXwHMm
4 53 135 207	043587CF	Testnet BIP32 pubkey	tpub	tpubD6NzVbkrYhZ4WLczPJWReQycCJdd6YVWXubbVUFnJ5KgU5MDQrD9 98ZJLNGbhd2pq7ZtDiPYTfJ7iBenLVQpYgSQqPjUsQeJXH8VQ8xA67D
4 53 131 148	04358394	Testnet BIP32 private key	tprv	tprv8ZgxMBicQKsPcsbCVeqqF1KVdH7gwDJbxbzpCxDUsoXHdb6SnTPY xdwSAKDC6KKJzv7khnNWRAJQsRA8BBQyiSfYnRt6zuu4vZQGKjeW4YF
		Bech32 pubkey hash or script hash	bc1	bc1qw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kv8f3t4
		Bech32 testnet pubkey hash or script hash	tb1	tb1qw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kxpjzsx

Note that private keys for compressed and uncompressed bitcoin public keys use the same version byte. The reason for the compressed form starting with a different character is because a 0x01 byte is appended to the private key before base58 encoding.

The following table shows the leading symbol(s) and address length(s) for 160 bit hashes for each of the possible decimal version values:

Decimal version	Leading symbol	Address length
0	1	up to 34
1	Q-Z, a-k, m-o	33
2	o-z, 2	33 or 34
3	2	34
4	2 or 3	34
5-6	3	34
7	3 or 4	34
8	4	34
9	4 or 5	34
10-11	5	34
12	5 or 6	34
13	6	34
14	6 or 7	34
15-16	7	34
17	7 or 8	34
18	8	34
19	8 or 9	34
20-21	9	34
22	9 or A	34
23	A	34
24	A or B	34
25-26	B	34
27	B or C	34
28	C	34
29	C or D	34
30-31	D	34
32	D or E	34
33	E	34
34	E or F	34
35-36	F	34
37	F or G	34
38	G	34
39	G or H	34
40-41	H	34
42	H or J	34
43	J	34
44	J or K	34
45-46	K	34
47	K or L	34
48	L	34
49	L or M	34
50-51	M	34
52	M or N	34
53	N	34
54	N or P	34
55-56	P	34
57	P or Q	34
58	Q	34
59	Q or R	34
60-61	R	34
62	R or S	34
63	S	34
64	S or T	34
65-66	T	34
67	T or U	34
68	U	34
69	U or V	34
70-71	V	34
72	V or W	34
73	W	34
74	W or X	34
75-76	X	34
77	X or Y	34
78	Y	34
79	Y or Z	34
80-81	Z	34
82	Z or a	34
83	a	34
84	a or b	34
85	b	34
86	b or c	34
87-88	c	34
89	c or d	34
90	d	34
91	d or e	34
92-93	e	34
94	e or f	34
95	f	34
96	f or g	34
97-98	g	34
99	g or h	34
100	h	34
101	h or i	34
102-103	i	34
104	i or j	34
105	j	34
106	j or k	34
107-108	k	34
109	k or m	34
110	m	34
111	m or n	34
112-113	n	34
114	n or o	34
115	o	34
116	o or p	34
117-118	p	34
119	p or q	34
120	q	34
121	q or r	34
122-123	r	34
124	r or s	34
125	s	34
126	s or t	34
127-128	t	34
129	t or u	34
130	u	34
131	u or v	34
132-133	v	34
134	v or w	34
135	w	34
136	w or x	34
137-138	x	34
139	x or y	34
140	y	34
141	y or z	34
142-143	z	34
144	z or 2	34 or 35
145-255	2	35