How to check a crypto address before you send
Addresses carry built-in error detection, but only on some networks and only against some mistakes. What checksums catch, what they miss, and what to verify yourself.
Most crypto addresses are not arbitrary strings. They carry a checksum — a few characters derived from the rest — so software can detect a typo before broadcasting anything.
That protection is real, and it is also narrower than people assume.
What a checksum catches
Tron addresses use base58check. Change one character and the checksum no longer matches, so wallets reject it. The same applies to Bitcoin's legacy and bech32 formats.
This means a mistyped Tron or Bitcoin address almost always fails outright rather than sending funds to a stranger. That is the good case.
What it misses
Ethereum addresses are plain hexadecimal. There is an optional checksum encoded in the capitalisation (EIP-55), but a plain lowercase address with a wrong character is still structurally valid. Nothing will stop the send.
No checksum anywhere tells you the address is on the right *network*. A valid Ethereum address is valid on several chains, and sending to the wrong one loses the funds while every check passes.
And no checksum tells you the address belongs to who you think. Clipboard-hijacking malware swaps in a valid attacker address, and valid is all a checksum measures.
The three checks worth doing every time
Compare the first five and last five characters after pasting, against the source you copied from. This is the one that catches a swapped clipboard.
Confirm the network label on both sides matches, not just the coin name.
For a large amount to a new destination, send a small test first and confirm it arrived before sending the rest.
BYCRYPTO validates a withdrawal address against the network you selected before accepting it, which catches the wrong-network case. It cannot know whether the address is the one you meant — that part is always yours.