An Introduction to Namada addresses

Namada uses different address types for different purposes on the blockchain. Primarily, addresses on Namada can be either transparent or shielded, identified by the letter of the first character in the address string - t for the former and z for the latter.

Transparent addresses

There are two different types, implicit and established. All transparent account addresses start with the string tnam, and all can hold token balances.

Implicit address

The simplest account type, an implicit address is derived from a single keypair. Particularly, one obtains the implicit address by hashing the public key of the keypair and encoding the first 20 bytes with bech32m.

An implicit address and its associated parent keypair are used to authorize (sign for) transactions and pay fees.

Established address

An established address can only be initialized with an on-chain transaction. One or more cryptographic keys (implicit accounts) are used to create and sign for the established account.