Bitcoin Address Checker & Validator
Rizful's Bitcoin Address Checker helps identify addresses because the Bitcoin ecosystem has accumulated a confusing variety of address formats over the years — and people regularly mix them up with addresses from completely different blockchains.
Paste any string and the checker tells you exactly what it is: a Bitcoin address, a Lightning Address, a BOLT11 invoice, or an altcoin address you shouldn't be sending Bitcoin to.
🔍 Try the Bitcoin Address Checker →
What It Does
Identifies Every Bitcoin Address Format
Bitcoin has gone through four major address generations. Rizful's checker recognizes all of them and explains the differences:
- Legacy P2PKH (
1...) — The original format from 2009. Base58Check encoded, 26–35 characters. Still works everywhere but has the highest transaction fees. - P2SH (
3...) — Pay-to-Script-Hash addresses, commonly used for multi-signature wallets and wrapped SegWit (P2SH-P2WPKH). Moderate fees. - Native SegWit (
bc1q...) — The most widely used modern format (Bech32, BIP-173). Reduces transaction fees by ~30–40% compared to legacy. - Taproot (
bc1p...) — The newest format, activated November 2021 (Bech32m, BIP-350). Best privacy, comparable or lower fees, and Schnorr signature support for advanced smart contracts.
The checker also detects testnet variants (tb1q..., tb1p..., m..., n..., 2...) and warns you that these addresses can't receive real Bitcoin.
Validates Lightning Addresses in Real Time
If you paste something that looks like a Lightning Address (user@domain), the checker queries the LNURL-pay server to verify it.
Here's what happens under the hood:
- The checker extracts the
useranddomainfrom the address - It makes a GET request to
https://<domain>/.well-known/lnurlp/<user> - It parses the LNURL-pay response and checks for valid
callback,minSendable, andmaxSendablefields - If the server responds correctly, you'll see a green "Valid Lightning Address" confirmation
When the address checks out, the checker shows you the details from the server:
- Min Sendable / Max Sendable — the payment range (the server reports these in millisatoshis; the checker converts them to sats)
- Description — the text/plain metadata from the server
- Avatar — if the server provides a thumbnail image in the metadata, the checker displays it
- Comment Allowed — whether the address accepts payment comments, and the character limit
If the server doesn't respond or returns an error, you'll see a clear "Not a Lightning Address" result instead of a misleading green checkmark.
Detects BOLT11 Invoices
Paste a BOLT11 invoice (lnbc..., lntb..., lntbs..., lnbcrt...) and the checker identifies the network (mainnet, testnet, signet, regtest) and offers a direct link to Rizful's Lightning Invoice Decoder where you can see the full invoice details — amount, destination, expiry, route hints, and more.
Catches Non-Bitcoin Addresses
This is where the tool really shines. People constantly paste the wrong kind of address into Bitcoin wallets. The checker detects and clearly warns about:
| Address Format | Starts With | What It Is |
|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | 0x | ETH, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, BSC, Avalanche (EVM chains) |
| TRON | T | TRX, commonly used for USDT-TRC20 |
| Solana | (base58, 32–44 chars) | SOL and SPL tokens |
| Ripple / XRP | r | XRP Ledger |
| Litecoin | L, M, or ltc1 | LTC (legacy and SegWit) |
| Dogecoin | D | DOGE |
| Bitcoin Cash | bitcoincash: | BCH (cashaddr format) |
| Monero | 4 (95 chars) | XMR |
| Cardano | addr1 | ADA |
| Cosmos | cosmos1 | ATOM |
Every non-Bitcoin address gets a red badge, a warning not to send BTC to it, and context about what blockchain it actually belongs to.
LNURL Detection
LNURL strings (lnurl1...) are bech32-encoded URLs used for interactive Lightning payment flows. The checker identifies these and explains the three common use cases: LNURL-pay, LNURL-withdraw, and LNURL-auth.
Shareable Links
Every check generates a shareable URL like:
https://rizful.com/check_bitcoin_address?address=bc1qw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kv8f3t4
Copy and send it to someone so they can see the same result without re-entering the address.
Privacy First
All address identification happens entirely in your browser — the check itself doesn't send the address to Rizful's servers. Two things to be aware of: Lightning Address verification requires querying the address's own LNURL-pay server (e.g., https://their-domain.com/.well-known/lnurlp/username), and Rizful never stores or logs those requests. And a shareable link (see above) carries the address in its URL, so anyone who opens that link sends the address to rizful.com as part of the page request.
Need a Bitcoin Address?
If the checker tells you the address you have isn't Bitcoin, you can sign up at Rizful to get a free Bitcoin on-chain address and a Lightning Address — the fastest, cheapest way to send and receive Bitcoin.