Are balances for an address visible?

Question

If you know someones BTC address, can you also find out what their balance is?

Does it also apply for the transaction history for that address?

I'm mainly asking because I want to know if it's possible for me write a script that can do this.

Nate Eldredge · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-25 22:05:09Z

3

Yes. All Bitcoin transactions are recorded in the public blockchain, and this gives you sufficient information to compute the balance of any address.

Sites such as blockchain.info and blockexplorer.com will conveniently show you such info, as well as complete transaction history for an address.

answered Nov 25, 2013 at 22:05

Nate Eldredge

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reiti.net · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-26 00:34:46Z

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You may know someones address but there is no limit on how many addresses someone uses.

So someone could actually use 1000s of addresses, even a single one for every transaction.

So as long, as you are not knowing EVERY address someone EVER used you will not be able to gather his total balance.

But yes, you may be able to gather the balance of ONE address.

answered Nov 26, 2013 at 0:34

reiti.net

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