Whats the difference between sub-addresses and integrated_addresses?
Is one more useful than the other?
Integrated addresses are just standard addresses but with an embedded payment ID. Anyone can decode the integrated address and determine the standard address it is associated with. However, when a transaction is sent to that integrated address, the payment ID is encrypted on the blockchain. Therefore no one (other than the private view key holder that issued the integrated address) can tell that the integrated address was used in a transaction.
Subaddresses are deterministically derived wallet addresses that are grouped by wallet accounts.
They are both useful, though subaddresses are newer and preferable in most use cases.
-
So subaddresses can be used to identify the sender just like integrated addresses, but subs are more unlinkable than ints? (since ints have the same initial string even if they are unlinkable to the normal address). It seems to me that sub addresses might be preferable in all cases, but there must be a reason integrated still exists – WhichDr May 17 at 16:31
-
1Only the wallet owner can create subaddresses whereas given a standard address, anyone can make an integrated address from it. That's a major difference which affects the use cases. – jtgrassie♦ May 17 at 17:31
Long Payment ID. Compact Payment IDs and Integrated Addresses – Mogens TrasherDK May 17 at 15:59