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@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ Note that this address begins with an "n" (or sometimes an "m"). This signifies
> **TESTNET vs MAINNET:** The equivalent mainnet address would start with a 1.
A Bitcoin address is literally where you receive money. It's like an email address, but for funds. However unlike an email address, a Bitcoin address should be considered a single-use token: use it to receive funds just _once_. When you want to receive funds from someone else, generate a new address. This is suggested in large part to improve your privacy. The whole blockchain is immutable, which means that explorers can look at long chains of transactions over time. This can make it possibly to statistically figure out who you and your contacts are, no matter how careful you are. However, if you keep reusing the same address, then it becomes pretty easy to see who you.
_What is a Bitcoin address?_ A Bitcoin address is literally where you receive money. It's like an email address, but for funds. However unlike an email address, a Bitcoin address should be considered a single-use token: use it to receive funds just _once_. When you want to receive funds from someone else, generate a new address. This is suggested in large part to improve your privacy. The whole blockchain is immutable, which means that explorers can look at long chains of transactions over time. This can make it possibly to statistically figure out who you and your contacts are, no matter how careful you are. However, if you keep reusing the same address, then it becomes pretty easy to see who you.
However a Bitcoin address is also something else: a public key (or more precisely, the 160-bit has of a public key). The public key (or address) allows you to receive money, while an associated private key lets you spend money.
By creating your first Bitcoin address, you've also begun to fill in your Bitcoin wallet. More precisely, you've begun to fill the `wallet.dat` file in your ~/.bitcoin/testnet3 directory. The `wallet.dat` file contains a considerable amount of data about prefeences and transactions, but most importantly, it contains all of the keypairs that you create on your local instance of Bitcoin: both the public key (which is to say the address, which you give people so that you can receive coins) and the private key (which is what you use to spend those coins). For the most part, you won't have to worry about that private key: `bitcoind` will use it as appropriate. However, this makes the `wallet.dat` file extremely important: if you lose it, you lose your private keys, and if you lose your private keys, you lose your funds!
_What is a Bitcoin wallet?_ By creating your first Bitcoin address, you've also begun to fill in your Bitcoin wallet. More precisely, you've begun to fill the `wallet.dat` file in your ~/.bitcoin/testnet3 directory. The `wallet.dat` file contains a considerable amount of data about prefeences and transactions, but most importantly, it contains all of the keypairs that you create on your local instance of Bitcoin: both the public key (which is to say the address, which you give people so that you can receive coins) and the private key (which is what you use to spend those coins). For the most part, you won't have to worry about that private key: `bitcoind` will use it as appropriate. However, this makes the `wallet.dat` file extremely important: if you lose it, you lose your private keys, and if you lose your private keys, you lose your funds!
With a single address in hand, you could jump straight to the next section, and begin receiving funds. However, before we get there, we're going to talk about a few other wallet commands that you might want to use in the future.