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Accounts and addresses

Accounts​

Tezos uses these types of accounts:

  • User accounts (sometimes known as implicit accounts) store tez (ꜩ) and tickets. Any wallet application or the Octez command-line tool can create user accounts.

  • Smart contract accounts (sometimes known as originated accounts) store immutable code, mutable storage, tez (ꜩ), and tickets. See Smart contracts.

User accounts are unrevealed until they make a transaction. They can store tez and tickets, but some services such as indexers may not see them.

To reveal an account, send any transaction from it, such as calling a smart contract or sending tez to any account, including itself. You can also send a dedicated reveal operation as described in Revealing accounts.

Addresses​

  • User accounts have addresses that start with "tz1", "tz2", "tz3" or "tz4."

  • Smart contracts have addresses that start with "KT1."

  • Smart Rollups have addresses, but are not accounts because they cannot store tez. Their addresses start with "sr1". They have a tree of commitments attached to them. See Smart Optimistic Rollups.

Multi-signature accounts​

Multi-signature accounts are a specific kind of user account that require each operation to be signed by several other user accounts before running it. They are a native counterpart of Multi-signature contracts, which can be found in many blockchains (including Tezos). Multi-signature accounts provide several important benefits, including:

  • Enhanced security: If an attacker gets control of one key, it is not enough to control the entire account
  • Shared responsibility: Multiple users can manage the account collectively
  • Versatility: They can be used like any other user account, including for collective staking or baking (which is not the case for multi-signature contracts)

For information about setting up multi-signature accounts, also known as "multisig accounts," see Creating multi-signature accounts or the tutorial Staking and baking with native multisig accounts.

Built-in multi-signature accounts were introduced in the Seoul protocol and use addresses that start with tz4, which are created with the BLS signature scheme. These accounts can delegate, stake, and bake just like other accounts. For more information, see tz4: BLS in the Octez and protocol documentation.

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