Bitcoin Core Address

Question

Hi how can I look up my bitcoin-core address. I have generated multiple addresses to received bitcoins but when I look them up in a bitcoin explorer they do not show the balance I see in bitcoin core.

Thanks guys.

Answer 1

Running the bitcoin-core software creates a 'full node', it does this by fully validating the current state of the network. Once in sync with the network, the BTC balance shown by the software can be assumed correct.

Looking up the balance on a blockchain explorer service's website can provide some assurance that what you're seeing on your node is indeed correct, but its also kind of like asking someone else to do some math for you, when in fact you've already computed the answer yourself. Why trust the other person, you've already independently arrived at the answer.

Note that each address in a wallet is unrelated to any other address in that wallet. So if you receive funds to address X, then you'll have to look up address X to see the balance of address X. If you're also received funds to address Y, they won't be shown if you look up address X. Likewise, if you haven't received funds to address Z, then looking up address Z will not give any information about any other addresses in the wallet (you won't see the balance of address X or address Y).

To see a list of unspent UTXOs and their associated addresses, you can run the following command: bitcoin-cli listunspent. If you look up those addresses using a block explorer, the balance of each address should be correctly displayed.

NOTE: using a block explorer is very bad for your privacy. The block explorer service will learn which addresses you are interested in, as will every other service involved in serving you that data (your ISP, local network admin, etc). Using the tor network to look up addresses with a block explorer would be preferable, to help preserve privacy. Some block explorers even offer a .onion hidden-service site mirror, to allow users to retain privacy.