Which Bitcoin address type should I use when sending to a swap service
Use the exact address type the swap service displays in its payment instructions. If it shows a legacy (P2PKH) address, send to a legacy address. If it shows a SegWit (bech32) address, send to that. The service constructs its deposit addresses deliberately, and deviating from the specified format can cause delays or lost funds.
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Status: waiting for your deposit
You send from your own wallet straight to the exchanger — nothing to connect, no account, and you stay on this page throughout. Rates are indicative until a swap is opened.
The swap is carried out by an independent exchanger and the deposit address above is theirs. starname.me never holds, receives or controls your funds, has no key to that address, and earns a referral commission. Opening a swap sends your receiving address, IP, browser and timezone to the exchanger for their compliance checks; we store none of it. Check their terms, fees and country restrictions before sending anything.
The reason is straightforward. Bitcoin has three common address types - legacy (starting with 1), SegWit (starting with 3), and native SegWit (starting with bc1). Each corresponds to a different script that dictates how the coins can be spent. Swap services automate the detection of incoming transactions. They scan the blockchain for a deposit to a specific address they control. If you send from a wallet that uses a different address type, the funds still arrive at the service's address. The blockchain does not reject them. But the service's internal system may not immediately recognize the transaction if it expects a particular format for the sender's address or if it relies on wallet software that handles address types inconsistently.
Most modern swap services accept any Bitcoin address type on their end. They generate a receiving address - often a native SegWit address now - and you send to that. The problem usually arises on the sender's side. Some wallets default to a legacy address type even when the recipient uses SegWit. That is fine for the recipient, but the sender's wallet might estimate fees based on the legacy address's larger transaction size. That can lead to overpaying on fees or, if the wallet is poorly designed, a failed transaction. More critically, a few services still use legacy addresses exclusively. Sending a SegWit transaction to a legacy address works, but the service's monitoring software might flag it as unusual and require manual review. That review can take hours or cause the swap to time out.
The safest practice is to match what the service provides. If the service gives you a bc1 address, send from a wallet that also uses bc1 addresses. If the service gives you a 1 address, send from a wallet that uses 1 addresses. Your wallet should let you choose the address type when you send. If it does not, consider whether the wallet is suitable for swaps at all.
A related issue is transaction size. SegWit addresses produce smaller transactions, which cost less in fees. Legacy addresses produce larger transactions, which cost more. When the Bitcoin mempool is congested, the fee difference between a SegWit transaction and a legacy transaction can be significant. That is covered in the sibling page on why Bitcoin swap fees rise during congestion.
If you are unsure which address type your wallet uses, check the first character of your own receiving address. "1" means legacy. "3" means SegWit (witness script hash). "bc1" means native SegWit. Most wallets now default to native SegWit. If yours does not, updating it may save you money on fees.
After you send, the swap service waits for confirmations. The number required varies by service and by how much you are swapping. That is the subject of the page on swap confirmations. Once the service releases the swapped asset - whether it is another cryptocurrency or a token - you receive it on the destination chain. The hub page, "Swapping Bitcoin for other assets," explains how that transfer works and why Bitcoin's slower finality matters compared to faster chains.
To summarize: copy the address the service gives you. Do not reformat it. Do not send to a different address type because you think it is faster or cheaper. The service built its deposit system around that specific address. Trust that system, not your assumptions.
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