CIP-19 defines the byte-level layout of Cardano addresses: a header that encodes the address type and network (mainnet or testnet), followed by a payment credential (a key hash or script hash that controls spending) and, for most everyday addresses, a staking credential that points to the stake key earning rewards. From this it derives the main address types: base addresses (payment plus staking), enterprise addresses (payment only, no staking), pointer addresses, and reward (stake) addresses.
The human-readable strings people copy and paste, with prefixes like addr1 and stake1, are that binary structure encoded in Bech32 following the prefixes set out in CIP-5. So CIP-19 and Bech32 work as a pair: CIP-19 says what the address contains, and Bech32 says how to write it down with built-in error detection.
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- Bech32An address encoding format used for Cardano addresses since the Shelley hard fork.View term
- Stake AddressThe bech32 address (`stake1...`) that owns delegation rights and receives staking rewards, separate from your payment address.View term
- WalletSoftware that stores your private keys and allows you to send, receive, and manage your ada and other tokens.View term