What is Public address?
The shareable identifier you give someone to receive funds; safe to publish.
An address is derived from a public key and can be shared freely. It does not allow anyone to spend from the wallet.
Addresses are chain-specific and easy to mistype. Copy-paste and check the first and last characters; some malware swaps a pasted address for another.
Related terms
- Private keySecurity
The secret that proves ownership of a wallet; anyone holding it controls the funds.
- WalletWallets
Software or hardware that holds keys and signs transactions; it does not hold coins.
- Block explorerOn-chain
A site that shows the raw contents of a chain: transactions, addresses and contracts.