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A lot of users seem to be mistakenly sending Bitcoin Cash to Bitcoin addresses and vice versa. I understand Bitcoin Cash doesn't support SegWit and that if Bitcoin Cash is sent to a SegWit Bitcoin address then the Bitcoin Cash is not currently recoverable.

How can I check if a particular address is valid on Bitcoin Cash?

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  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about bitcoin.
    – Claris
    Commented Feb 6, 2019 at 22:51
  • @Anonymous, despite the name of the site, it is ok to ask questions about other cryptocurrencies (except Ethereum and Monero, since they have their own sites). Check the site Tour page.
    – Highly Irregular
    Commented Feb 8, 2019 at 9:09
  • I’d like that rule to change due to substantially low quality questions, such as this one.
    – Claris
    Commented Feb 8, 2019 at 9:10
  • @Anonymous that's something to argue in Meta, rather than going against the site description and trying to change questions to suit your personal opinion. Note that this question has had more upvotes than downvotes, so it appears others are finding it useful.
    – Highly Irregular
    Commented Feb 8, 2019 at 9:12
  • I’m sure everything will be fine.
    – Claris
    Commented Feb 8, 2019 at 9:12

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You can't. Most segwit addresses are actually p2sh addresses that are wrapped around segwit. As it is impossible to determine what the redeem script of a p2sh will look like there is no way of telling them apart. In summary: If an address starts with a 3 it is impossible to know if its segwit, multisig or something else. If an address starts with a 1 it is safe to send to it, the private key to access the funds will be the same on both chains.

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  • How about if you have the private key? Does that make a difference?
    – Highly Irregular
    Commented Oct 24, 2017 at 21:58
  • 2
    Yes, that does make a difference. If you have the private key you can generate a so called p2sh-p2wpkh address and compare with the address in question. If they are the same, this is a segwit address. If not it is either a p2sh that has been wrapped around a p2pkh which you can check for by generating the p2sh for your private key, or it is a multisig which you can only check if you know all involved keys, or it is some non-standard script which you have no way of checking.
    – blues
    Commented Oct 25, 2017 at 7:32

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