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Bech32

1 min read

Bech32 is an encoding scheme used to encode SegWit addresses and Lightning invoices. The Bech32 alphabet contains 32 characters, including lowercase letters a-z and the numbers 0-9, excluding the number 1 and the letters ‘b’, ‘i’, ‘o’ to avoid reader confusion. Bech32 also includes an error detection mechanism.

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Encoding
The Bitcoin protocol uses several encoding schemes to represent data, chosen by data type to balance human readability against conserving disk space.
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SegWit
Segregated Witness (SegWit) is a 2017 soft-fork upgrade to Bitcoin that fixed transaction malleability and paved the way for the Lightning Network.
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Lightning invoice
A Lightning invoice serves as a request for payment and includes the amount to be paid and the destination of the payment.
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Base58
Base58 is an encoding scheme with a 58-character alphabet of letters and digits. A variant, Base58Check, is used to represent legacy Bitcoin addresses.
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Base64
Base64 is an encoding scheme used to encode Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions (PSBTs). The Base64 alphabet uses 64 characters.
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