Wallet Address
A unique alphanumeric identifier representing where cryptocurrency can be sent or received on a blockchain.
What is Wallet Address?
A wallet address is a string of alphanumeric characters that identifies a specific destination on a blockchain network — analogous to an account number or email address. When someone wants to send cryptocurrency to you, they send it to your wallet address. Addresses are derived from a user's public key through a series of cryptographic hashing steps (SHA-256, RIPEMD-160, and Base58Check encoding on Bitcoin; Keccak-256 on Ethereum), resulting in a human-readable string that is unique and tamper-proof. Ethereum addresses are 42 characters starting with '0x'; Bitcoin addresses typically start with '1', '3', or 'bc1'. A single wallet can generate many addresses — best practice is to use a new address for each transaction for privacy. Addresses are public information; sharing one does not expose the private key or allow spending of funds.
Example
An Ethereum wallet address looks like: 0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc454e4438f44e. Anyone can send ETH or ERC-20 tokens to this address. However, only the holder of the corresponding private key can authorize outgoing transactions. Block explorers like Etherscan allow anyone to view the full transaction history and balance of any address.
Source: Ethereum Foundation — Accounts