What is Public Key?

A public key allows you to receive cryptocurrency transactions. It's a cryptographic code that's paired to a private key. While anyone can send transactions to a public key, you need the private key to "unlock" them and prove that you are the owner of the cryptocurrency received in the transaction. You can therefore share this key with the public, while your private key should be kept a secret. The public key that can receive transactions is usually an address, which is simply a shortened form of your public key.