Bitcoin Address
A Bitcoin address is a 160-bit hash of the public portion of a ECDSA public/private keypair. Without an address there would be nothing to tie a balance to. (R1)
Using public-key cryptography, you can “sign” data with your private key and anyone who knows your public key can verify that the signature is valid.
References:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Technical_background_of_version_1_Bitcoin_addresses
https://www.samlewis.me/2017/06/a-peek-under-bitcoins-hood/
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Technical_background_of_version_1_Bitcoin_addresses#Collisions_.28lack_thereof.29
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