Exchange sent to wrong address format — P2SH vs bc1 error — is the problem that surfaces when an exchange withdrawal lands at a legacy or P2SH address instead of a bc1q one. Bitok Arena recommends Native SegWit (bc1q) because the transaction size is smaller and the fee is lower at any given sat/vbyte rate. But the master wallet accepts Bitcoin from legacy addresses starting with 1, P2SH-SegWit addresses starting with 3, and Native SegWit addresses starting with bc1q. The address format of the sending wallet affects fee efficiency, not whether the entry counts. BTC that landed at a legacy address you control is ready to compete — no migration required.
The address format affects the fee you pay per transaction, not whether Bitok Arena accepts the entry. BTC received at a legacy address you control is just as eligible to enter a round as BTC at a bc1q address — the leaderboard ranks by amount committed, and it does not care which address type sent it.
The confusion compounds when people learn why exchange sends from shared address — why it breaks Bitok Arena position — because the exchange's withdrawal address is controlled by the exchange, not the participant. That is the disqualifying factor: custody, not format. Once the BTC has been withdrawn to a self-custody wallet — any format, any type — the self-custody requirement is met. The address type (legacy, P2SH, Native SegWit) is a fee efficiency variable, secondary to the control question that actually determines whether the entry is valid.
What the Address Format Actually Changes
The fastest Bitcoin withdrawal for a Bitok Arena entry before round close comes from Native SegWit because smaller transactions propagate slightly faster and cost less to move at the same fee rate — but the address format is one factor among several. Legacy addresses (P2PKH, starting with 1) use the original Bitcoin script encoding. P2SH addresses (starting with 3) wrap spending conditions in a hash, covering multi-signature setups and SegWit-wrapped wallets. Native SegWit addresses (P2WPKH, starting with bc1q) use SegWit natively, which reduces vbyte count and therefore the fee at any given sat/vbyte rate.
Address format comparison for Bitok Arena entry transactions:
Legacy (1xxx) — accepted by Bitok Arena master wallet; transaction size approximately 190–250 vbytes for a standard single-input transaction; higher fee at the same sat/vbyte rate compared to SegWit formats.
P2SH-SegWit (3xxx) — accepted by Bitok Arena master wallet; transaction size approximately 130–170 vbytes; lower fee than legacy, higher than Native SegWit.
Native SegWit (bc1q) — accepted by Bitok Arena master wallet; transaction size approximately 100–140 vbytes; lowest fee among common single-signature address formats at the same sat/vbyte rate.
Practical fee difference — at 20 sat/vbyte, a legacy transaction costs approximately 200 sat more than a Native SegWit transaction for the same input/output structure; meaningful at high fee environments, minor at low fee environments.
The eligibility for Bitok Arena entry is identical across all three formats. The only variable is the fee paid to Bitcoin miners for the entry transaction.
Exchange cold wallet vs hot wallet determines withdrawal timing in ways that address format does not: cold wallet withdrawals may require manual processing and can take longer to release than hot wallet ones. Once the BTC arrives at a self-custody address of any format, that delay is over. Participants with legacy or P2SH self-custody wallets send from that address to the Bitok Arena master wallet, set a fee appropriate to current mempool conditions, and enter the round. The prize, if won, returns to the address that sent the entry — the format does not affect prize receipt.
Moving to Native SegWit Later
Questions about how to speed up a pending withdrawal for a Bitok Arena entry often surface alongside the address format question — but they are separate problems. Withdrawal speed depends on the exchange's processing queue and network fee attached to the withdrawal; address format has no effect on that. For participants who want to move to Native SegWit once the current round is handled: create a wallet that generates bc1q addresses by default (Sparrow, BlueWallet, or any modern hardware wallet), send the full balance from the legacy or P2SH address to the new bc1q receiving address, and use bc1q for all future entries. One consolidation transaction covers the migration.
What moving to Native SegWit involves for Bitok Arena participants currently on legacy wallets:
Wallets that generate bc1q addresses — Sparrow Bitcoin Wallet, BlueWallet, and modern hardware wallets (Trezor, Ledger) all produce Native SegWit addresses by default; the seed phrase generated at setup controls those addresses.
Consolidation transaction — a single send from the legacy wallet to a new bc1q receiving address moves the full balance in one on-chain transaction; no multiple-step process is required beyond that send.
No eligibility difference during the transition — Bitok Arena entries from legacy and P2SH addresses carry identical leaderboard eligibility to entries from bc1q addresses; the only variable that changes is the transaction fee paid per entry.
There is no urgency. Legacy and P2SH wallets enter Bitok Arena rounds with no eligibility penalty — only a slightly higher fee per transaction.
Knowing how to check the transaction hash after sending to Bitok Arena from an exchange is more useful than worrying about address format: the hash shows whether the transaction broadcast correctly and where it sits in the mempool or blockchain. The address format question has a clear answer — it does not break participation. Any valid Bitcoin address the participant controls can send the entry transaction. The fee is slightly higher from legacy and P2SH addresses than from Native SegWit, but the leaderboard position and prize receipt mechanism are identical across all three formats.
What Actually Matters for Bitok Arena Entries
The question "my BTC is confirmed but not on the leaderboard — what happened" usually traces to one of two conditions, neither of which involves address format. First, the Bitcoin must be sent from an address the participant controls — not an exchange withdrawal address. Second, the transaction must confirm before the round closes. An entry from a legacy address that confirms in time is valid. An entry from a Native SegWit address that confirms after close is not. Address format is irrelevant to both conditions; self-custody and timing are what determine whether the entry appears on the leaderboard.
Self-custody and confirmed timing are the two conditions that make a Bitok Arena entry valid. Address format is a fee efficiency question that comes after those two conditions are met — a secondary optimization, not a primary requirement. Optimize for format when the conditions are already satisfied; do not let a format question delay an entry that is otherwise ready to send.
How to make sure a BTC withdrawal arrives before round close is a timing and fee question, not a format question. Participants with legacy or P2SH wallets send from the address they control, at a fee that confirms inside the available window, and the entry is valid. Migrating to Native SegWit to save on future fees is worth doing — but it can wait until after this round is entered and confirmed. Do not delay competing over a format question that does not affect eligibility.
Bitok Arena accepts Bitcoin from legacy, P2SH-SegWit, and Native SegWit addresses equally. The address format affects the transaction fee, not eligibility. If BTC from an exchange landed at a legacy address you control, send it directly from there to the Bitok Arena master wallet — the entry is valid. Migrate to a bc1q wallet later to save fees on future entries, but do not miss today's round waiting to optimize.