btc-terminology

name	btc-terminology
description	Critical Bitcoin terminology rules to prevent confusion between bech32m (encoding) and taproot (address type). Use when working on BTC-related code, config files, or shell scripts.

BTC Terminology Rules

🚨 CRITICAL: Bech32m vs Taproot

This is a common source of bugs. Do NOT confuse these terms:

Term	What It Is	Where Used
bech32m	Encoding format (HOW address is serialized)	Bitcoin Core RPC, shell scripts
taproot	Address type (WHAT the address represents)	Config files, domain model

Key Rule: bech32m ≠ taproot — They are related but NOT interchangeable.

Quick Reference Table

Context	Correct Term	Example
Config YAML/TOML files	taproot	address_type: "taproot"
Environment variables	taproot	WALLET_ADDRESS_TYPE="taproot"
Bitcoin Core CLI/RPC	bech32m	bitcoin-cli getnewaddress "" bech32m
Shell scripts (receiver addresses)	bech32m	getnewaddress "" bech32m
Go domain code (internal/domain/address/)	taproot	AddrTypeTaproot
Go Bitcoin Core interface (internal/domain/bitcoin/)	bech32m	AddressTypeTaproot = "bech32m"

Common Mistakes

❌ WRONG

# Config file - DON'T use bech32m
address_type: "bech32m" # WRONG!

# Shell script - DON'T use taproot for Bitcoin Core RPC
bitcoin-cli getnewaddress "" taproot  # WRONG!

✅ CORRECT

# Config file - Use taproot
address_type: "taproot" # CORRECT!

# Shell script - Use bech32m for Bitcoin Core RPC
bitcoin-cli getnewaddress "" bech32m  # CORRECT!

Technical Background

Why Two Different Terms?

1. Taproot (BIP341) = SegWit version 1 address type (P2TR - Pay-to-Taproot)
2. Bech32m (BIP350) = Encoding format that fixes checksum issues in original Bech32

All Taproot addresses are encoded using bech32m, but:

• User-facing config uses "taproot" (what you want)
• Bitcoin Core RPC uses "bech32m" (how it's encoded)

Address Format Comparison

Encoding	SegWit Version	Address Type	Prefix	Config Value
Base58	N/A	P2PKH	1...	legacy
Base58	N/A	P2SH	3...	p2sh-segwit
Bech32	v0	P2WPKH	bc1q...	bech32
Bech32m	v1	P2TR	bc1p...	taproot

Codebase Mapping

The project has two different type definitions:

// internal/domain/bitcoin/address_type.go
// For Bitcoin Core RPC communication
AddressTypeTaproot AddressType = "bech32m"  // Bitcoin Core uses "bech32m"

// internal/domain/address/types.go
// For user-facing configuration
AddrTypeTaproot AddrType = "taproot"  // User sees "taproot"

Conversion between these is handled by mapper functions:

// internal/infrastructure/api/btc/btc/mapper.go
// FromAddressType: "bech32m" (Bitcoin Core) → "taproot" (user-facing)
// ToAddressType:   "taproot" (user-facing) → "bech32m" (Bitcoin Core)

Verification Checklist

When working with Taproot/Bech32m code:

• Config files (YAML/TOML) use address_type: "taproot"
• Environment variables use WALLET_ADDRESS_TYPE="taproot"
• Bitcoin Core RPC calls in shell scripts use bech32m
• Shell scripts generating receiver addresses use bech32m
• Go code uses correct type for the layer:
  • Domain/config layer: AddrTypeTaproot (value: "taproot")
  • Bitcoin Core interface: AddressTypeTaproot (value: "bech32m")

Related Files

File	Purpose
internal/domain/address/types.go	User-facing AddrType definitions
internal/domain/bitcoin/address_type.go	Bitcoin Core AddressType definitions
internal/infrastructure/api/btc/btc/mapper.go	Type conversion functions
docs/chains/btc/taproot/user-guide.md	Taproot user guide

Related Documentation

• BIP350 - Bech32m specification
• BIP341 - Taproot specification
• BIP86 - Taproot key derivation (m/86'/...)