Bitcoin address is an alphanumeric character arrangement of 26-35 letters that is useful for receiving Bitcoins from other people. Bitcoin addresses can be obtained from exchanges or wallets.

Each user can have multiple Bitcoin addresses for different transactions. Usually, exchanges and wallets will help users create new Bitcoin addresses every time there is a new transaction.

A Bitcoin address is a unique identifier that serves as a virtual location to which crypto assets can be sent. People can send crypto assets to Bitcoin addresses similar to the way fiat currency can often be sent to email addresses.

However, Bitcoin addresses are not meant to be permanent, but only as tokens to be used in a single transaction. Unlike digital wallets (e-wallets), Bitcoin addresses cannot store balances.

The address itself consists of 26-35 alphanumeric characters. This string is the public part of the asymmetric key pair. The standard format for Bitcoin addresses is P2PKH (Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash).

Digital wallets (e-wallet) or Bitcoin clients generate addresses through cryptographic operations.

The software generates a private key via an asymmetric signature algorithm and then derives the public key from the private key.

The user signs with the private key and verifies the signature with the public key.

When Bitcoin was first started, people could send currency to IP addresses. It was a convenient method for users but it quickly became clear that it would also be convenient for people launching man-in-the-middle attacks.

That method was discontinued and Bitcoin addresses were designed as a safer alternative.

Is a Bitcoin address the same as a wallet address?

The short answer is that they are two different things, with the address being the ID where the Bitcoins are stored, whereas the wallet is the program that controls the address and facilitates transfers to and from the address.