A bitcoin address is different from a public key.
Your public key is derived from your private key and your address is derived from your public key. What you give to others and start with 1, 3 or bc1, so that they can send you bitcoin is called address, not public key.
Is this correct? If so, TIL. I’ve had this misconception in my brain for so many years?!
The way almost everyone defines the public key now got me fully confused. Here’s what the internet says a public key is:
• A public key is like an account number that you use to receive bitcoins.
• Wallet programs create public keys to receive satoshis and use the corresponding private keys to spend those satoshis.
• A public key aka a public address is your unique Bitcoin address, which is used for blockchain transactions. (this is from FreeWallet, not the best educational source)
I thought public key = address and that the public key you’re referring to is called the master key. Now I gotta do some research!