What is the actual format of a Solana wallet address?

Question

This is a newbie question. Such as address like - zGmof8SeyvHKnSEWv4i2mVv7MYe85D3zZqsTBjsKXSV

Is it base64?

Answer 1

Addresses are base58 encoded

From the doc:

const { Keypair } = require("@solana/web3.js")

let kp = Keypair.generate();

console.log(kp.publicKey.toBase58());
console.log(kp.secretKey);

// 2DVaHtcdTf7cm18Zm9VV8rKK4oSnjmTkKE6MiXe18Qsb
// Uint8Array(64) [152, 43, 116, ... 118]

A solana address is the public key part of a keypair that is generated with ed25519 algorithm. These are just bytes, but often you will also see it as encoded in base58.

• Solana Doc On Keypair

• Explanation from the Solana Bootcamp Lectures

Answer 2

I think public keys are base58

Answer 3

Any 256-bit value is a valid Solana address. By convention, these are stringified with base58.

While any 256-bit value is valid, they cannot be arbitrarily reserved for use. There are three ways to reserve an address,

1. Generate an Ed25519 keypair and sign a transaction that specifies the corresponding SystemInstruction::CreateAccount instruction which reserves the public key bit value. These addresses occupy the 256-bit values corresponding the Ed25519 curve points.
2. Find a PDA under a specific program which will CPI to the system program to reserve the address on your behalf. These addresses occupy all 256-bit values not on the Ed25519 curve.
3. Use the system program *WithSeed instructions to reserve addresses derived from a valid Ed25519 public key and a user-specified 32-byte utf-8 string. These can occupy both on- and off-curve bit value addresses. 1 and 2 should be preferred to this method