Things you need to know about the Types of wallets keys we have
Private keys; these keys are your password to access your wallet. It acts as a password to manage your funds and create a backup wallet on a new device. The private key helps to prove asset ownership, create digital signatures, and execute transactions on the blockchain. The private key is a unique string of 64 characters. Luckily, some wallets provide you with a 12-word recovery phrase, aka "seed phrase". It is the seed that your private key can be generated from, and is used to restore your wallet in the event that the private key is lost or missing.
Public keys; These keys are what you send to your friends whenever you want to receive coins from them. It's also called a wallet address. It's a string of 42 characters and It's safe to send to friends but it's also important to send the right keys when receiving funds to avoid misplacement of funds.
Let quickly run through how you can recognize some important cryptocurrency wallet address
*Bitcoin wallet address starts with "bc1 or 1 or 3", though Bitcoin network has two types of addresses which are [segwit(Segregated Witness) and legacy]. Segwit addresses start with " bc1 or 3" while a legacy address starts with "1". SegWit addresses offer advantages in terms of lower transaction fees and better scalability compared to Legacy addresses.
*Ethereum and any token built on the blockchain starts with "ox"
*BNB and any token built on its blockchain starts with "ox" too. Let me just say an EVM compatible wallet address will always begin with '0x'
*Tron and any token built on its blockchain starts with "T"
*Ton and any token built on it blockchain starts with "U"
*Solana and any token built on its blockchain starts with any alphabet or any number but it's usually an alphabet or a number first.
Note; wallet address and contract address are not the same. A contract address is a code that identifies a specific token whereas Wallet address is used to identify the owner of a digital asset wallet.
