Glossary

Pay-to-Witness-Public-Key-Hash (P2WPKH)

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Pay-to-Witness-Public-Key-Hash (P2WPKH) is a type of ScriptPubKey which is used to lock bitcoin to a SegWit address. A P2WPKH transaction is similar to a P2PKH transaction in most ways; it still locks bitcoin to the hash of a public key. The major difference is that P2WPKH uses SegWit.

➤ Learn more about SegWit.

This means that the ScriptSig—the script that unlocks the bitcoin—for all inputs is moved outside of the transaction body and into the Witness section and called the Script Witness. This data is still recorded on the blockchain, but the data incurs a lower fee than regular data, making SegWit transactions cheaper than regular transactions.

Related Terms
SegWit
Segregated Witness (SegWit) is a soft-fork upgrade to Bitcoin which was activated in 2017. SegWit fixed the problem of transaction malleability, and paved the way for the implementation of the Lightning Network and many other upgrades.
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Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash (P2PKH)
Learn about Bitcoin Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash (P2PKH) transactions that send bitcoin to a hash of a public key, making transactions more user-friendly.
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Witness
The witness of a transaction is a section of SegWit transactions not included when a transaction is hashed and signed. The witness contains the witnessScripts for all SegWit inputs of a transaction.
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ScriptSig
The ScriptSig is the part of a transaction which contains the required signatures and the script which unlocks a UTXO for spending.
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Address
An address is used to receive bitcoin and is represented as a string of letters and numbers. When you send bitcoin to an address, only the owner of the private key(s) corresponding with the address can spend that bitcoin.
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