What is a Bitcoin Cash wallet?
A Bitcoin Cash wallet is the tool you use to receive, send and manage BCH. Your coins do not actually sit inside the app or device. They stay recorded on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain, while the wallet manages the private keys that let you control and spend them.
A good way to think about it is:
- Your BCH stays on the blockchain
- Your wallet manages the keys
- Your address is what you share to receive BCH
- Your private key is what authorizes spending
Bitcoin Cash wallets can also generate QR codes and fresh receiving addresses, which makes it easier to get paid without reusing the same address every time.
With a self-custody wallet, you control the keys yourself rather than relying on an exchange or another provider. That gives you direct control over your BCH, but it also makes your backup important: if you lose access to the wallet and do not have a valid backup, there may be no company that can restore it for you.
What is a Bitcoin Cash address?
A Bitcoin Cash address is the identifier other people use to send you BCH. Your wallet generates it for you. Most addresses today use the CashAddress format, which begins with bitcoincash: followed by a string of letters and numbers. You may still come across the older legacy format, which looks more like a Bitcoin address — both point to the same wallet, and BCH sent to either one arrives without any problem. Your wallet can also display the address as a QR code.
An address is safe to share. On its own it cannot be used to move your coins — spending requires the private key behind it, and that key stays in your wallet. What an address does reveal is public: anyone who has it can look up its balance and transaction history on a block explorer, because the Bitcoin Cash ledger is open to everyone. Using a fresh address for each payment keeps those histories separate.
One thing to check before you send: Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash are separate networks. A Bitcoin Cash address only works for BCH, so make sure the address and the network match before confirming a payment.
