<p>I read through both questions, so please correct me if im answering the wrong question.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The user who you want to pay <em>must</em> send you their public key (or QR to scan) in order to send money to them. This is, of course, unless their public key (wallet) is listed on a public website. Please see <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Help:Introduction#Sending_payments" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Help:Introduction#Sending_payments</a></p></li>
<li><p>In general*, there is no harm in exposing a public key. This question on crypto stackexchange goes into more detail <a href="https://crypto.stackexchange.com/a/48433/57353">Is exposing a public key bad?</a></p></li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-25T18:17:32.773Z
2018-03-25T18:17:32.773Z
dannypaz
<p>That person has to tell you what their public key (or its hash) is.  A Bitcoin address is the most convenient way to encode the hash of a public key, so typically the person will tell you an address and ask you to make a payment to that address.  You can enter that address into your wallet and make the payment.</p>

<p>Related: <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/48860/how-can-a-sender-know-receivers-public-key-when-creating-pay-to-public-key-tx?rq=1">How can a sender know receiver&#39;s public key when creating &quot;Pay To Public Key&quot; tx?</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-25T18:15:49.100Z
2018-03-25T18:15:49.100Z
Nate Eldredge
<p>If you are using <code>bitcoind</code>, you can get new receivable address using <code>bitcore-cli getnewaddress</code> command</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-28T05:17:24.560Z
2018-03-28T05:17:24.560Z
Prayag k
<p>As per the answer to <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/44644/how-to-get-the-public-keys-of-a-bitcoin-user">this question</a>, we cannot retrieve the public key of a user.<p>1)How does my wallet get the value (public key/public key hash) to which I need to make the payment?<p>2)What is the harm in exposing an address's public key?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-25T18:15:10.680Z
Second question answered [here](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/42320/is-that-safe-to-expose-public-key-to-the-mainnet).  In general, please do not ask multiple questions in a single post.
Nate Eldredge
<wallet><public-key>
How do I know the public key of the person I need to pay?
rahs
# How do I know the public key of the person I need to pay?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-03-25)

As per the answer to [this question](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/44644/how-to-get-the-public-keys-of-a-bitcoin-user), we cannot retrieve the public key of a user.

1)How does my wallet get the value (public key/public key hash) to which I need to make the payment?

2)What is the harm in exposing an address's public key?

**Tags:** wallet, public-key

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Second question answered [here](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/42320/is-that-safe-to-expose-public-key-to-the-mainnet).  In general, please do not ask multiple questions in a single post.  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-03-25. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

I read through both questions, so please correct me if im answering the wrong question.

1. The user who you want to pay *must* send you their public key (or QR to scan) in order to send money to them. This is, of course, unless their public key (wallet) is listed on a public website. Please see <https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Help:Introduction#Sending_payments>
2. In general\*, there is no harm in exposing a public key. This question on crypto stackexchange goes into more detail [Is exposing a public key bad?](https://crypto.stackexchange.com/a/48433/57353)


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### Answer by username_1 on 2018-03-25. Score: 1

That person has to tell you what their public key (or its hash) is. A Bitcoin address is the most convenient way to encode the hash of a public key, so typically the person will tell you an address and ask you to make a payment to that address. You can enter that address into your wallet and make the payment.

Related: [How can a sender know receiver's public key when creating "Pay To Public Key" tx?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/48860/how-can-a-sender-know-receivers-public-key-when-creating-pay-to-public-key-tx?rq=1)


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### Answer by username_3 on 2018-03-28. Score: 0

If you are using `bitcoind`, you can get new receivable address using `bitcore-cli getnewaddress` command


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