What Are the Differences Between Shelley, Byron, and Stake Addresses on Cardano?
Cardano has three main address types you will encounter: Byron-era addresses (legacy), Shelley-era addresses (current standard), and stake addresses (used for delegation and rewards). Byron addresses are outdated and being phased out; Shelley addresses are the default for transactions; stake addresses are not for holding funds but for controlling staking rights and reward withdrawals.
Byron addresses: the legacy format
Byron addresses were the only address type when Cardano launched in 2017. They are base58-encoded and start with the letter "A" followed by a long string of mixed-case letters and numbers. Byron addresses were designed for the original Cardano wallet (Daedalus) and the initial Byron-era network.
Key characteristics:
- Base58 encoding (similar to Bitcoin addresses).
- Always begin with "A" (e.g., Ae2tdPwUPEY...).
- Only support ADA transfers - no native assets, no staking.
- Cannot be used with stake keys; you cannot delegate ADA held in a Byron address without first moving the funds to a Shelley address.
- Byron addresses are still valid for receiving ADA, but most wallets will warn you they are legacy and recommend migration.
Byron addresses were deprecated after the Shelley hard fork (July 2020). You can still send ADA to a Byron address, but you should not generate new ones. If you have funds in a Byron address, migrate them to a Shelley address to access staking and native assets.
Shelley addresses: the current standard
Shelley addresses became the default after the Shelley upgrade introduced staking, native assets, and the eUTXO model. They are bech32-encoded and always start with "addr1" (mainnet) or "addr_test1" (testnet).
Key characteristics:
- Bech32 encoding (lowercase, numbers only, no mixed case).
- Start with addr1 (mainnet) or addr_test1 (testnet).
- Support ADA, native assets (tokens, NFTs), and staking.
- Can be payment-only addresses or payment+staking addresses (see below).
- Shelley addresses can be used with hardware wallets (Ledger, Trezor) and software wallets (Daedalus, Lace, Eternl).
Payment address vs. payment+staking address: - A payment address (sometimes called an enterprise address) only contains a payment credential. It can send and receive funds but has no associated staking key. ADA held here cannot be delegated unless you first move it to a payment+staking address. - A payment+staking address (the most common type) bundles a payment key with a staking key. When you create a wallet, it generates a payment+staking address by default. This allows the wallet to delegate ADA to a stake pool and receive rewards.
You can identify a payment+staking address by its structure: it encodes both a payment key hash and a stake key hash. Most wallet interfaces only show the payment+staking address; they do not expose the raw encoding.
Stake addresses: for delegation and rewards only
Stake addresses are a separate address type used exclusively for staking operations. They do not hold ADA or any other asset. Instead, they represent a staking credential that controls delegation and reward withdrawal.
Key characteristics:
- Bech32 encoded, start with stake1 (mainnet) or stake_test1 (testnet).
- Cannot receive or send ADA or tokens. If you send ADA to a stake address, the transaction will fail or the funds may be lost (depending on the wallet).
- Used to:
- Delegate to a stake pool.
- Withdraw staking rewards.
- Register a stake key (requires a deposit of 2 ADA, refundable when you deregister).
- A stake address is linked to one or more payment addresses. When you delegate, you are delegating the stake associated with all payment addresses that share that stake key.
How stake addresses relate to payment addresses: - When you create a wallet, the wallet generates a stake key and derives both a payment+staking address and a standalone stake address. - The payment+staking address embeds the stake key hash. This is how the network knows which stake address controls the delegation of funds held at that payment address. - You can share your stake address publicly (e.g., on a pool's website) to let others verify your delegation, but you never send funds to it.
Summary Table
| Address Type | Prefix | Encoding | Holds ADA? | Supports Staking? | Supports Native Assets? | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Byron | A |
base58 | Yes | No | No | Legacy, migrating away |
| Shelley (payment) | addr1 |
bech32 | Yes | No (unless combined) | Yes | Current standard |
| Shelley (payment+staking) | addr1 |
bech32 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Current standard, most common |
| Stake | stake1 |
bech32 | No | Yes (delegation/rewards) | No | Staking only |
Practical Notes
- If you see a Byron address, move those funds to a Shelley address. Most wallets (Daedalus, Lace, Eternl) offer a "transfer" or "migrate" feature.
- If you see a stake address, do not send ADA to it. Use it only for delegation and reward withdrawal.
- If you are using a hardware wallet, the wallet will generate Shelley addresses. Byron addresses are not supported by hardware wallets.
- Stake key registration requires a deposit (currently 2 ADA). You get this back when you deregister the stake key. See the site's article on stake key registration deposit for details.
- You can have multiple payment addresses sharing one stake address. This is common in wallets that generate new addresses for each transaction (e.g., Daedalus). All those addresses delegate together because they share the same stake key.
For current technical specifications (address length, encoding details, exact prefix rules), consult the Cardano developer documentation or your wallet's help page. The Cardano improvement proposals (CIPs) for address formats are CIP-0019 (Byron) and CIP-0022 (Shelley/bech32).
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