Stealth address
A stealth address is a public key that anyone can pay via one-time, untraceable addresses, without outside observers seeing the links.
Address reuse is the biggest privacy leak in Bitcoin: whoever pays once to address X knows how much is still there. Stealth addresses — in Bitcoin implemented as BIP352 'Silent Payments' (2024) — solve this. You publish one static 'stealth' address (e.g. in your bio), but every sender derives a unique on-chain address from it that only you can unlock.
Example
You tweet your Silent Payment address sp1q.... Alice sends 0.01 BTC; the blockchain shows a random-looking P2TR address as recipient. Bob sends later: another unique address. No-one can tell the same person received both payments.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need special software to receive Silent Payments?
Yes — your wallet must scan every block for payments to your stealth key. That costs more compute than a classic wallet. Cake Wallet, Bitbox and Sparrow support BIP352 in 2026.
Related terms
Further reading
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