Ethereum is very different in this regard than Bitcoin.<p>Ethereum has accounts. So when Ana sends coins to Berta, Berta has no way to leave those coins untouched. As they just raise the amount of coins she owns. So next time Berta sends coins to Charles, it is unclear <i>which</i> coins she sent and if those include Ana's coins.<p>Bitcoin on the other hand has no accounts. When Ana sends coins to Berta, she just marks those coins as "Can be spent by Berta in the future". Berta can decide to never touch them. When Berta sends coins to Charles, she decides <i>which</i> of her coins she sends.<p>It is even more complex, as the conditions how the Bitcoins can be spent are defined by little scripts. Even though those scripts are (for now) more restricted than on Ethereum.<p>So it is not really true that Bitcoins are "on address 17f8..". In reality that means the Bitcoins are locked by a script that demands any transactions must be signed by the secret key that matches public key 17f8...<p>So in a sense, Bitcoin does not have addresses. It has scripts.<p>I wonder how Blockchain explorers deal with more complex scripts. For example on blockchain.com one can look up coins by putting an "address" into the search bar. But how would one look up coins that are not locked by a script that puts the coins under control of a certain key? Or a script that puts them under control of multiple keys?