What is a public address?

Every wallet account is a key pair. The private key signs and stays secret. The address comes from the public key and is meant to be shared, a bit like an account number: people pay you there, and anyone can paste it into an explorer.

Formats differ by chain. An EVM address is 0x plus 40 hex characters, 42 in total, and a normal EVM wallet has the same address on Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum and HyperEVM. A Solana address is a base58 string of 32 to 44 characters. Bitcoin has several formats, the modern one starting with bc1. Sending to a valid address on the wrong network is one of the oldest ways to lose money, and sometimes nobody can reverse it.

The part people forget is that an address is a window as well as a mailbox. Share it to get paid and the payer can see your balance and every trade you ever made from it. That is why plenty of traders keep one address for receiving and another for savings.

Suppose a friend posts a Solana address to collect a 20 USDC bet. You paste it into an explorer and see 14 memecoins next to the SOL, and every swap since March. You still cannot move a single token.

Also called: wallet address, receiving address, deposit address.

The Portfolio widget takes a public EVM or Solana address and checks the format against the chain you picked, so a Solana address will not go in on Base. Paste one there anyway and the widget offers to switch to Solana. Hyperliquid perps positions, spot balances and staked HYPE load from a 0x address. If you send someone a board link, it goes without the addresses.

• Portfolio
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• Net worth

• Watch-only wallet
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• Blockchain explorer
• Self-custody