Wallet address

A wallet address is a string of letters and numbers you share so other people can send you crypto. Think of it as an account number for a wallet. You can hand it out freely. It only lets people pay in, never take out.

Each address is tied to a key pair. Your public key produces the address, while your private key, which you keep secret, is what authorises spending from it. Sharing the address is fine. Sharing the private key is how funds get stolen. The two are easy to confuse and very different in consequence.

Addresses look different on each network. A Bitcoin address starts with bc1, 1, or 3 and runs to around 26 to 62 characters. An Ethereum address starts with 0x and is 42 characters long. Because they are long and case-sensitive, almost nobody types one by hand. People copy and paste, or scan a QR code that encodes the same string.

One rule matters above all: send the right coin to the right kind of address. Bitcoin sent to an Ethereum address, or a coin pushed across the wrong network, is usually lost for good. There is no undo button on a blockchain, no support desk that can reverse a confirmed transfer, and no central authority anywhere with the power to pull your coins back once they have moved to the wrong place. This is why so many guides tell you to send a tiny test amount first. Test, confirm, then send the rest.

Two habits cut the risk sharply. After pasting an address, check the first four and last four characters against the original, because clipboard-hijacking malware swaps addresses for the attacker's own. And generate a fresh address for big incoming payments where your wallet allows it, which keeps your activity harder to trace. The address is public by design, yet a little care goes a long way.

Banxa, an on-ramp running since 2014 in 100+ countries with 100+ payment methods, sends every purchase to a wallet address you provide, so the coins arrive in a wallet you control.