Glossary of Bitcoin Terms and Definitions

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The modifications are intended to improve or refine the Bitcoin protocol. Litecoin has a quicker transaction confirm time, scrypt as proof-of-work and higher number of coins. Primecoin finds prime numbers at the same time it confirms its blocks. Namecoin has a special key-value storage.
In theory, an altcoin can be started from an existing Bitcoin blockchain, although no known example exists at this writing. (See also Fork

Bitcoin address is a Base58Check representation of a Hash160 of a public key with a version byte 0x00 which maps to a prefix “1”. Typically represented as text (ex 1CBtcGivXmHQ8ZqdPgeMfcpQNJrqTrSAcG) or as a QR code.
A more recent variant of an address is a P2SH address: a hash of a spending script with a version byte 0x05 which maps to a prefix “3” (ex 3NukJ6fYZJ5Kk8PjycAnruZkE5Q7UW7i8).
Another variant of an address is not a hash, but a raw private key representation (ex 5KQntKuhYWSRXNqp2yhdXzejkYAR7US3MT1715Mbv5CyUKV6hVe). This variant is rarely used, limited only to import/export of private keys or printing them on paper wallets.

Bitcoin address is an identifier of 27-34 alphanumeric characters beginning with the number 1 or 3, that represents a destination for a Bitcoin payment. Addresses can be generated at no cost by any user of Bitcoin. At any active Bitcoin site, click “New Address” to be assigned a random address. It is also possible to obtain a Bitcoin address using an account at an exchange or online wallet service.
An example of a Bitcoin address: 31uEbMgunupShBVTewXjtqbBv5MndwfXhb.
Bitcoin addresses are really public keys