<p>No, you should not reuse addresses/treat them as a &quot;mini-account&quot;. You should create a new one for every transaction and not re-use old addresses.</p>
<p>Your wallet software will generally handle this automatically for you -- just remember to request a new receive address each time you receive new bitcoin, and it should give you a new address that you should only use once.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-05T02:02:46.853Z
Perhaps also important to note that under no circumstances this has any effect on fees. Reusing an address is not cheaper than creating a new one.
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-05T08:37:31.800Z
Isn't it I have to at least use an address twice?  The first time when the address is created, it has 0 bitcoins.  So when 0.001 bitcoins go into it (is associated with it), then it has 0.001 bitcoins, and ... at least you need to use it again to consolidate it into your bigger account (address), or that you need to send to another person, so that in either case, the address becomes empty (0 bitcoins), so that you can stop using it forever?
nonopolarity
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-05T08:59:39.400Z
Or, one other way is: the time you spend that 0.001 bitcoin is the time you dispose of it.  So if I have 12 addresses with 0.001 bitcoin, and now I need to buy something or transfer 0.01 bitcoins to Coinbase, now, out of the 12 addresses, 10 of them will be transfer to Coinbase, and then immediately thrown away by my wallet?  So basically we only use the address twice: when bitcoins come in and when it goes out
nonopolarity
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-05T11:56:39.173Z
You should *not* consolidate addresses. But yes, when we say "single use" we mean receive once and send once -- if you only use it to receive once, your wallet software should handle the rest automatically.
ieatpizza
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-06T23:37:30.093Z
@nonopolarity I find this abstraction most useful: you have a single wallet, and it has multiple "entry points" that are addresses, which are used to receive coins into the wallet. But once received, those coins are held and managed by the wallet, and it's the wallet that sends them - not the individual addresses. In this abstraction, addresses are indeed single use.
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-07T15:28:56.187Z
so we can think of, one address, receive once, and send out once, and abandon it
nonopolarity
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-05T01:51:11.043Z
2021-02-05T01:51:11.043Z
ieatpizza
<p>Can we think of an address as a mini-account, and we can keep on using one, or we can use many to add privacy to our activities, and we can transfer or sell the bitcoins in it and make them empty and dispose of them any time?</p>

<address>
Can we think of an address a mini-account, and is re-useable and disposable?
nonopolarity
# Can we think of an address a mini-account, and is re-useable and disposable?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-02-05)

Can we think of an address as a mini-account, and we can keep on using one, or we can use many to add privacy to our activities, and we can transfer or sell the bitcoins in it and make them empty and dispose of them any time?

**Tags:** address


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-02-05. Score: 1

No, you should not reuse addresses/treat them as a "mini-account". You should create a new one for every transaction and not re-use old addresses.

Your wallet software will generally handle this automatically for you -- just remember to request a new receive address each time you receive new bitcoin, and it should give you a new address that you should only use once.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Perhaps also important to note that under no circumstances this has any effect on fees. Reusing an address is not cheaper than creating a new one.  
> **username_0**: Isn't it I have to at least use an address twice?  The first time when the address is created, it has 0 bitcoins.  So when 0.001 bitcoins go into it (is associated with it), then it has 0.001 bitcoins, and ... at least you need to use it again to consolidate it into your bigger account (address), or that you need to send to another person, so that in either case, the address becomes empty (0 bitcoins), so that you can stop using it forever?  
> **username_0**: Or, one other way is: the time you spend that 0.001 bitcoin is the time you dispose of it.  So if I have 12 addresses with 0.001 bitcoin, and now I need to buy something or transfer 0.01 bitcoins to Coinbase, now, out of the 12 addresses, 10 of them will be transfer to Coinbase, and then immediately thrown away by my wallet?  So basically we only use the address twice: when bitcoins come in and when it goes out  
> **username_1**: You should *not* consolidate addresses. But yes, when we say "single use" we mean receive once and send once -- if you only use it to receive once, your wallet software should handle the rest automatically.  
> **username_2**: @username_0 I find this abstraction most useful: you have a single wallet, and it has multiple "entry points" that are addresses, which are used to receive coins into the wallet. But once received, those coins are held and managed by the wallet, and it's the wallet that sends them - not the individual addresses. In this abstraction, addresses are indeed single use.  
> **username_0**: so we can think of, one address, receive once, and send out once, and abandon it  

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