Getting a wallet is step one towards getting a public address and adding it to your Bity account in order to buy/sell or swap cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrency public addresses are free to create, and there’s an essentially limitless supply of them - it’s considered good practice to use a new address every time you want to receive Bitcoins or Ethers, as it makes correlating your monetary habits more difficult.

A public address or public key is a cryptographic code that allows a user to receive cryptocurrencies into his or her account. The public key coupled with the private key are significant tools required to ensure the security of your crypto assets.

Everyone who owns cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, …) has to have a unique identifier or address - similar to as you would have with a bank account, just like an IBAN.

The public address of your wallet allows you to receive cryptocurrency from other wallets or external transactions.

What does this address look like?

It is a long series of numbers and letters like this one - for example mine are:

Bitcoin Public Address:

1CVmtcWSifU1gBa7anH1WaBaT2AqScMDtt

Ethereum Public Address:

0x17504553eBA2433e6952e75f4b80D23c0d519AE1

You are also given a Quick Response code (or QR code). You can send that to people, and they can scan it with the camera function on their smartphone or other device using a mobile wallet application to easily access your wallet address.

Like this one:

Should I worry about putting that on a public website!?

Not at all! This address is safe to give to anyone. It is like publishing your bank account number (IBAN), all you can expect is that someone sends you money. People can’t access your wallet at all if you publish your public address.