If you are in your early days in the cryptocurrency market, your first challenge is to find a safe and secure way to store your digital currencies and obtain a Bitcoin address.
Fortunately, there are a large variety of bitcoin wallet and other cryptocurrency providers out there.
These wallets allow the creation of a Bitcoin address, also known as a public key, that can be used to send and receive Bitcoins.
Some of these wallets provide access to private keys that allow the transfer of coins by their owner.
What we would like to say, public keys should not be confused with private keys, and you should never give your private key, because anyone who has access to this key can control your money.
Before we get into the subject and find out the answer, how can one get a Bitcoin address? What are the most important ways to do that?
We limp first and know by:
Bitcoin address:
A simple definition: A Bitcoin address is the public identifier for your Bitcoin wallet, it can be said that it acts as an email address where cryptocurrencies can be sent and received.
When you create a Bitcoin wallet, you receive a public key and a private key.
The private key proves that you are the owner of the respective wallet, while the public key is used to receive funds.
The public key and the private key are linked through the encryption mechanism, and the private key can be used to derive the public key, but the public key cannot be used to extrapolate the private key.
For this reason, you should never share your private key. With any party, whatever.
A Bitcoin address is not the same as the public key, and arguably, instead, it is a temporary hashed version of the public key.
The address itself consists of 26 to 35 alphabetical characters and numbers, for ease of use, it is often converted into a QR code format for sharing.
For each new transaction, the recipient creates a new one-time address that they provide to the sender.
Examples of bitcoin addresses:
As mentioned earlier, Bitcoin addresses are between 26 and 35 alphabetic characters long and a combination of numbers.
There are three different types of Bitcoin addresses:
P2PKH.
P2SH.
Bech32.
P2PKH Titles:
P2PKH addresses are the native Bitcoin address format, also known as legacy addresses.
It usually begins with the number 1 and is case sensitive.
P2PKH addresses All wallets support legacy addresses, and you should be able to receive bitcoins sent from a Segwit address to an old address.
Transaction fees are generally higher at P2PKH titles.
Example of a P2PKH header:
1FWu4Z9NoBWnguurBCdXpmM2xuiog6kbdy
P2SH Titles:
SegWit's Nested or Pay for Script Hash (P2SH) addresses use a similar syntax to P2PKH addresses, but start with the number 3 instead of 1.
The format was introduced to support SegWit and to support the Bitcoin protocol update, which separated signature data from Bitcoin transactions, thus reducing the amount of transaction data that must be stored in bitcoin blocks.
In practical terms, this means that P2SH addresses have lowered transaction fees.
Arguably, these addresses resemble a "midway house" between Legacy and Native SegWit titles, supporting both types of transactions.
It also supports greater functionality than legacy addresses, such as multisig addresses (which require multiple digital signatures to authorize the transaction).
Example of a P2SH header:
3C3nZhpVjjDGo7vGzBCTJkKfYzCGWGLWsq
Bech32 titles:
Native SegWit or Bech32 addresses begin with "bc1" and are not case sensitive.
These addresses fully support native SegWit addresses resulting in lower transaction fees, but they are not supported by all cryptocurrency trading platforms and wallet providers.
Bech32 example:
bc1qwdanan7d5dq99l6v7z65a4x50cqf2rep6wj9z6
How to obtain a Bitcoin address, and the most important ways to do so:
First method: download a mobile wallet
Mobile wallets are rapidly growing in popularity as a simple and effective way to store cryptocurrencies.
Part of the reason for its popularity is due to its ease of access and ease of use.
Most portable cryptocurrency wallets are capable of storing a wide range of cryptocurrencies in one place and can be used on both Android and iOS devices.
Popular portable bitcoin wallets include Electrum, Jaxx Liberty, and BRD.
Important note:
When downloading mobile phone wallets, they must be downloaded from its official website or from the application store, provided that you make sure of the comments and reviews before the download process, because there are many stories that we dealt with in Bitcoin Arabs, in which many users were exposed to fraud from parties that imitated the official wallet and after that Withdrawing victims' coins.
Once you have chosen a suitable mobile wallet, you will be able to create your bitcoin wallet in the app.
This usually involves creating a unique security PIN to control access to the wallet.
You will also likely need to type a 12 to 24 word recovery phrase, which is very important because it is used to restore a wallet if you lose access to your device.
The second method: using the hardware wallet
Arguably the most secure way to create a Bitcoin wallet is to use one of the many hardware wallets available.
Hardware wallets for cryptocurrencies are physical vaults that allow users to store cryptocurrencies in an offline environment and are secured by a number of layers of hardware and software based security.
These layers of security can include a bank-level security component as with the Ledger Nano X, or a biometric physical security such as a "D'CENT Biometric Wallet" ...
Most cryptocurrency hardware wallets are safe against a wide range of attacks, but they can be expensive, making them best suited for those with a large wallet.
Like most modern cryptocurrency wallets, hardware wallets generally allow users to create addresses for a variety of cryptocurrencies, but Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether are supported by most wallets.
To create your Bitcoin wallet on a hardware wallet, you will first need to set up the device.
During this process, you may be asked to select the cryptocurrency you want to manage on the device.
Alternatively, some hardware wallets, like the one produced by Ledger, allow you to quickly add and remove support for various cryptocurrencies using a companion app.
In pictures, a simple explanation of how to set up the Ledger Nano S hardware portfolio
Depending on the device you are using, you will then be able to create your own Bitcoin wallet either on the device or using the app associated with it.
Once again we mention that the setup process generally includes recording the recovery phrase and assigning a PIN to restrict access to the device.
Method 3: Register on a cryptocurrency exchange:
Cryptocurrency exchanges are a very popular way to store bitcoins, since they also offer a free cryptocurrency wallet.
A large percentage of the most popular cryptocurrency exchange platforms allow users to store and manage a wide range of cryptocurrencies after simply opening an account in them, but others require users to complete an identity verification and anti-money laundering (AML) questionnaire before enabling this feature.
Once the wallet feature is enabled in the cryptocurrency exchange of your choice, you will be able to find or create a deposit address in your account, usually in the deposit or wallet section of the platform's website.
Most cryptocurrency exchange platforms do not allow users to create multiple addresses for a single cryptocurrency, forcing them to reuse the same address for every transaction.
Although most cryptocurrency exchange platforms provide users with a wallet for cryptocurrencies, it is important to note that not all exchange platforms are trustworthy.
As there are a number of fake trading platforms that have no other purpose than to steal the deposits of individuals who register with them.
For this reason, it is important to do your research before choosing a trading platform, taking care not to use platforms that do not have a good reputation.
As for some of the big names of trading platforms they are:
Queen Binance, Binance, Kraken, Gemini and OKex ...