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Open the receive screen of a Monero wallet and you may find a 95-character address starting with 4, a list of 95-character addresses starting with 8, a button that makes a 106-character address, and — in older guides and some exchange deposit pages — a separate "payment ID". They are not four ways of saying the same thing. One of them is what you should paste into a swap form, one also works, one is outside the form's guidance, and one no longer exists in a usable form. The facts below were checked on 12 October 2026 against the Monero project's documentation: Moneropedia on getmonero.org (entries "Address" and "Payment ID") and the developer guides on docs.getmonero.org (subaddresses, integrated addresses).
The four, side by side
| What it is | Starts with | Length | Meant for | Paste into the swap form? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary (standard) address | 4 | 95 characters | The wallet's root address; the same as subaddress #0 of account #0 | Yes |
| Subaddress | 8 | 95 characters | Everyday receiving; one per payer or per purpose | Yes — the recommended choice |
| Integrated address | 4 | 106 characters | Businesses taking automated payments; carries an embedded 8-byte payment ID | Outside the form's guidance (95 characters); use a subaddress |
| Payment ID on its own | — | 16 hex characters (short) or 64 (long) | Nothing any more: long IDs were removed in release 0.15; short IDs exist only inside integrated addresses | There is no field for it |
The form's guidance for a Monero recipient reads: 4… or 8…, 95 characters, no payment ID needed. Everything that follows explains why the guidance says that.
The primary address: 4…
Moneropedia describes a raw Monero address as a set of 95 characters starting with a 4 or an 8. The one starting with 4 is the primary address, also called the standard address: the address derived directly from your wallet's public spend key and public view key. The Monero developer guide on subaddresses notes that the subaddress #0 on the account #0 is the standard address — in other words, the primary address is the first entry in the same family as every subaddress.
It works everywhere, and a swap payout to it arrives like any other. The reason the documentation does not recommend it for everyday use is reuse: everybody who pays you at the primary address holds the same string, which is the one thing subaddresses exist to avoid.
Subaddresses: 8…
A subaddress is also 95 characters and starts with 8 on mainnet. The developer guide is direct about which to use: a subaddress is what you should be using by default to receive Monero. Every subaddress is derived from the primary address's keys — the guide gives the arithmetic — so the wallet needs no extra backup for them, and funds received at any subaddress sit in the same balance.
A wallet can make as many subaddresses as you like, on request and at no cost: a new one for each swap, each counterparty, each purpose. Nothing about a subaddress is visible on the chain, and the person paying cannot tell two subaddresses of the same wallet apart.
For a swap this is the address to paste: open the wallet's receive screen, create a subaddress, label it ("swap, 31 October"), copy it, paste. If you later see the payout in your wallet, the label tells you which swap it was.
Integrated addresses: 106 characters
An integrated address is a primary address with an encrypted payment ID folded into it. The developer guide on integrated addresses describes a compact payment ID of 8 bytes generated at random by the recipient, encoded together with the address into a string of 106 characters; Moneropedia gives the same length. The guide says who it is for: businesses accepting payments in an automated way should prefer integrated addresses, and individuals should prefer subaddresses.
The purpose is bookkeeping on the receiving side. A shop with one wallet and many customers hands each customer an integrated address; the embedded ID tells the shop's software which invoice a payment belongs to. For a person receiving a swap into their own wallet there is nothing to reconcile, so the integrated address has no job to do.
It is also 106 characters, and the form's guidance for Monero is 95. If the only Monero address a service gives you is an integrated one, read the section on exchange deposits below before creating a swap.
Payment IDs: what is left of them
Payment IDs once travelled separately from the address, and that is why older exchange pages and guides still mention them. The current state, from Moneropedia's "Payment ID" entry:
- Long payment IDs — 32 bytes, 64 hexadecimal characters, typed into a separate field — have been removed since release 0.15, and it is not possible to use them any more.
- Short payment IDs — 8 bytes, 16 hexadecimal characters — are encrypted and exist only inside integrated addresses. The guide on integrated addresses says this obsoletes the former practice of putting a full 32-byte payment ID in the transaction's extra field.
So there is no longer any Monero payment that needs an ID typed next to the address. The swap form has no such field for Monero, and the memo and destination tag guide lists the five assets that do have a second field — Monero is not among them.
What the swap form accepts, in both directions
You receive XMR (for example USDT TRC-20 → XMR or BTC → XMR): the recipient field takes a 95-character address starting with 4 or 8, and it checks the format before the swap is created. A subaddress is the right answer; the primary address also passes. A 106-character integrated address is outside the guidance, and the form will tell you so before anything is sent.
You send XMR (for example XMR → USDT TRC-20): there is no Monero address to choose. The status page shows a one-time Monero deposit address and the amount; you send to it from any subaddress or from the primary address, exactly as shown. Your wallet's choice of sending account has no effect on the swap.
Exchange deposits
When the XMR from a swap should land in an exchange account rather than in your own wallet, the exchange's deposit page decides what you can paste. Three cases:
- The exchange shows a 95-character address starting with 8 — a subaddress created for your account. Paste it. This is the common case with current exchange integrations.
- The exchange shows a 106-character address starting with 4 — an integrated address with your account's payment ID inside. The form's guidance is 95 characters, so this does not fit. Look on the deposit page for an alternative; some exchanges offer both and show the subaddress under "new address format" or similar. If there is no alternative, the swap should be paid to your own wallet first and sent on to the exchange from there.
- The exchange shows a 95-character address starting with 4 plus a separate payment ID — the old, pre-0.15 arrangement. The form cannot carry a separate ID, and current Monero software cannot attach a long one. Ask the exchange's support for a subaddress; the safe path in the meantime is again your own wallet.
Sending to the exchange's address without the ID it expects would deliver the XMR to the exchange's wallet with nothing to say whose it is. The 95-character check on the form prevents the integrated-address case from going wrong, but it cannot know that a plain 4… address was meant to come with an ID — that is for you to check on the deposit page.
A worked example: USDT TRC-20 to a fresh subaddress
Numbers are made up; the form shows the live ones.
- In the wallet, open "Receive", create a new subaddress and label it. It is 95 characters and starts with 8.
- Open USDT TRC-20 → XMR. Suppose 1 XMR = 150 USDT and the Monero payout fee shown is 0.0001 XMR. Enter 300 USDT: 300 ÷ 150 = 2 XMR, minus 0.0001, so "You get (estimate)" shows 1.9999 XMR.
- Paste the subaddress. The form confirms the format. Click "Get deposit address" and save the status link.
- Send 300 USDT on TRON to the deposit address. One TRON confirmation takes about 2–5 minutes; the rate is then set. If XMR moved 0.5 % up in those minutes: 300 ÷ 150.75 − 0.0001 = 1.9899 XMR delivered; 0.5 % down: 2.0099 XMR, with the surplus shown on the page.
- "Sending" shows the Monero payout hash. The explorer confirms the transaction exists and counts its confirmations; it cannot show the amount or your subaddress.
- The wallet shows +1.9899 XMR at the labelled subaddress, locked. Ten Monero blocks later — about 20 minutes — it is spendable. The lock is Monero's rule for every received output; BTC to XMR step by step explains it.
Total time from sending the USDT to spendable XMR: roughly half an hour, of which the TRON part is five minutes.
Checklist before you paste a Monero address
FAQ
Does it matter whether I give the primary address or a subaddress?
For the swap, no: both are 95 characters and both pass the form's check. For you, the subaddress is better because it is not shared with anyone else who pays you, and the Monero documentation says to use subaddresses by default.
Can I make a new subaddress for every swap?
Yes. Subaddresses are derived from the wallet's keys, cost nothing to create, and all feed the same balance. A label per swap makes the wallet history easier to read.
My exchange gives me a 106-character address. What now?
That is an integrated address, outside the form's 95-character guidance. Look for a subaddress option on the deposit page; otherwise receive into your own wallet and send to the exchange from there.
I have a payment ID from an old exchange page. Where do I enter it?
Nowhere: the form has no field for it, and long payment IDs have been removed from Monero since release 0.15. Ask the exchange for a current deposit address.
Will the swap see my other subaddresses?
No. A subaddress reveals nothing about the wallet it belongs to, and the payer cannot tell two subaddresses of one wallet apart.
Which address do I send from when the swap pays out something else?
Any. On a route like XMR → USDT TRC-20 you send to the deposit address on the status page; the wallet's sending account makes no difference. See Monero for the confirmation figures and every XMR route.