Assets, Ethereum

What Is an Ethereum Address?

An Ethereum address is a unique string of characters that represents a location on the Ethereum blockchain. They are used to send and receive Ether and other Ethereum-based tokens.

Addresses can be generated at no cost by any user of Ethereum.

An Ethereum address is composed of the following elements:

– A checksum
– A prefix that indicates the network the address is intended for
– The address itself, which is composed of 20 bytes

NOTE: WARNING: An Ethereum address is an identifier for a digital wallet used to store, send and receive Ether (ETH), the digital currency used on the Ethereum blockchain. It is important to note that an Ethereum address is not the same as a bank account number. As such, it is highly recommended that you do not share your Ethereum address with anyone you do not trust, as doing so could lead to your funds being stolen and/or misused.

The checksum is used to ensure that the address has been entered correctly. The prefix indicates which network the address is intended for.

The address itself is composed of 20 bytes. The first 12 bytes represent the account’s public key, while the last 4 bytes represent the account’s checksum.

The checksum is calculated as follows:

– First, the Keccak-256 hash of the address is calculated.
– Then, the first 4 bytes of this hash are taken as the checksum.

The checksum is used to ensure that an address has been entered correctly. If an incorrect address is entered, then the transaction will be rejected by the network.

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