Litecoin’s New SegWit (P2SH) Addresses
P2SH stands for “Pay to script hash”. Segregated Witness accounts and multisig accounts use these addresses.
New Addresses in short
- Litecoin changes the format of some of its addresses.
- L-addresses are non-P2SH (non-SegWit) addresses and they remain unchanged (Legacy Litecoin accounts).
- All addresses starting with “3” will now begin with “M”. (The entire address changes, not just the prefix.)
- This will not affect your litecoin holdings. 3- and M-addresses are freely convertible.Imagine this as a street being renamed — both names still point to one location.
- TREZOR Wallet only accepts M-addresses as valid P2SH addresses. Please use the converter here to translate between 3- and M-addresses.
- Sending litecoins to your TREZOR? M-address refused?Use a 3-address. Please use the converter here to translate between them.
- In order not to unnecessarily create confusion with Bitcoin’s P2SH addresses, Litecoin has changed the prefix of their P2SH addresses. Instead of beginning with a “3”, Litecoin’s P2SH addresses will start with the letter “M”.
- As this is solely related to the derivation method of P2SH addresses from public keys, this does not affectyour litecoin holdings in TREZOR. It will only affect you if you send litecoins to P2SH addresses, as you will have to use a different address.
It might take an extended period of time until all vendors, services, merchants, etc. will adjust to this change. Many services continue to accept sending transactions to 3-addresses only, while TREZOR Wallet will give you M-addresses and sends only to M-addresses. In order to bypass these limitations, please use the converter between the two addresses to get the desired format.
So what changes are there in TREZOR and TREZOR Wallet?
- TREZOR will generate a new Wallet, with new P2SH addresses for you, M-addresses
- TREZOR Wallet can only send a P2SH transaction to an M-address
- TREZOR Wallet sends non-P2SH transactions to L-addresses as normal
- L-addresses remain unchanged in Legacy account
I need a 3-address. How do I get my 3-address?
You can convert between your M-address, generated by your TREZOR, and a 3-address with this tool. Just paste your M-address into it and convert.
What is the benefit of M-addresses over 3-addresses?
The benefit of this is that you cannot accidentally send litecoins to a Bitcoin address anymore, and vice versa.
Do I need to update my TREZOR device to send transactions to Litecoin P2SH addresses?
Yes, please update your TREZOR firmware to version 1.5.0. Earlier firmware versions do not support sending Litecoin transactions to an M-address, and therefore transaction signing will not be successful.
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