What a Monero Address Looks Like
A Monero address is 95 or 106 characters and starts with a 4 or an 8. What each form is for, why the address you share never appears on the chain, and which one to give when someone is sending you XMR.
Short answer: a Monero (XMR) address is a long string of letters and numbers, 95 characters for a standard address or a subaddress and 106 for an integrated address. A standard address starts with 4, a subaddress starts with 8, and an integrated address also starts with 4 but is longer. For receiving a payment, give a fresh subaddress from your own wallet. If an address starts with anything else, it is not a mainnet Monero address.
The three formats side by side
| Format | Starts with | Length | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (primary) address | 4 | 95 characters | The wallet's main address, derived directly from its keys |
| Subaddress | 8 | 95 characters | One of an unlimited set of extra addresses from the same wallet |
| Integrated address | 4 | 106 characters | A standard address with a payment ID built in, so a service can tell deposits apart |
All three are written in Monero's own variant of Base58, which leaves out the characters easiest to confuse: zero, capital O, capital I and lowercase l. A shortened standard address looks like 4AdUndXHHZ6… and a shortened subaddress like 84kqVzP3Vf…. Never type one out by hand; copy it, and compare the first and last few characters after you paste.
What is inside an address
A standard address packs together a network prefix, two public keys and a checksum. The two keys are the point:
- The public spend key is the half that matters for ownership. Only the matching private spend key can move funds sent to the address.
- The public view key lets a sender's wallet build a payment that only your wallet will recognise. The matching private view key is what your wallet uses to find incoming payments, and it is why handing that key to a server lets the server see every payment you receive.
The checksum at the end catches typos. A wallet that rejects a pasted address as invalid is usually catching a character lost or changed on the way.
Why your address never appears on the chain
On Bitcoin, the address you give out is the address that shows up on the public ledger, and anyone can look up everything it has received. Monero works differently. When someone pays you, their wallet uses your public keys to derive a brand-new one-time address, called a stealth address, and that is what is written to the chain. Every payment gets its own.
So publishing a Monero address does not publish your balance or your history. Nobody can paste it into a block explorer and see what it holds. What the address cannot hide is the link between you and it: if you post the same address in two places, anyone who sees both knows they belong to the same person. That is the problem subaddresses solve.
Subaddresses: one wallet, many addresses
A subaddress is a separate address your wallet generates from the same keys. Funds sent to any of them land in the same balance, but on the chain the payments are unlinkable, and an outsider holding two of your subaddresses cannot tell they belong to the same wallet.
Use a new one for each counterparty: one for an employer, one for a marketplace, one for a friend. Every modern wallet, including Feather, Cake Wallet, Monerujo and the official GUI, can create as many as you need, usually from a "Receive" tab. They cost nothing and never expire.
Integrated addresses and payment IDs
An integrated address carries an 8-byte payment ID inside it. Exchanges and merchants used them to match a deposit to a customer while sharing one wallet across everyone. The ID is encrypted on the chain, so only the recipient can read it.
Older standalone payment IDs, entered in a separate field, are no longer supported by current wallets. If a service still asks for one, it is running out-of-date software. For a personal wallet you do not need a payment ID at all; subaddresses do the same job better.
Which address to use when receiving XMR from a swap
When you swap Bitcoin to Monero or any other coin to XMR, the address you enter is where the Monero is paid out. Three rules cover almost every mistake:
- Use a wallet you hold the keys for. Several large exchanges have delisted Monero, and a payout sent to a closed listing is the one failure a swap cannot undo. Our guide to the best Monero wallets covers which to pick.
- Use a fresh subaddress. It keeps this payment unlinkable from anything else you have received.
- Check the first and last characters after pasting. Clipboard-swapping malware replaces copied addresses with an attacker's; a quick comparison catches it.
AnonExch accepts all three formats as a payout address. Every route into XMR is listed on the Monero exchange pairs page.
Common questions
How many characters is a Monero address?
95 for a standard address or a subaddress, 106 for an integrated address. An address of any other length has been cut short or is not a Monero address.
Does a Monero address start with 4 or 8?
Both are valid. A standard address and an integrated address start with 4; a subaddress starts with 8. Test-network addresses start with other characters, so if a mainnet wallet rejects an address beginning with something else, that is why.
Can someone see my balance from my Monero address?
No. Payments to you are written to the chain under one-time stealth addresses, not under the address you shared, so there is nothing to look up. Only someone holding your private view key can see what you have received.
Is it safe to share my Monero address publicly?
It reveals nothing about your funds, but it ties everything paid to it to the same recipient in the eyes of anyone who sees the address in more than one place. For a public donation address that is fine. For anything personal, give each sender their own subaddress.
Do I need a payment ID to receive Monero?
Not for a personal wallet. Payment IDs exist so a service sharing one wallet across many customers can tell deposits apart. If you are sending to such a service, it will give you an integrated address with the payment ID already inside it.
Can a Monero address be reused?
Yes, technically. Reuse does not expose your balance the way it does on Bitcoin, because every payment still lands under its own stealth address. It does link the payments to one recipient for anyone who knows the address, which is why a subaddress per sender is the better habit. For what the chain itself does and does not reveal, see is Monero traceable?. For the coin itself, its live price and a swap widget, see Monero.