<p>The public key belongs to, and identifies, the recipient of the funds. Without it, the network doesn't know who the money goes to, and the rightful owner can't use it.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-28T22:27:57.127Z
Ok, but is that so to speak the same thing like the address of the recipient?
TMOTTM
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-28T23:07:54.533Z
@TMOTTM: Almost. Technically, a Bitcoin address is a Base58-encoded *hash* of the public key. These days outputs don't specify the actual public key but only the hash. This was only developed some time after Satoshi published the original whitepaper.
Meni Rosenfeld
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-28T20:55:28.620Z
2016-01-28T20:55:28.620Z
Meni Rosenfeld
<p>In figure 1 of the original paper by satoshi, why include the public key of the next owner in the hash?</p>

<hash>
Whats the public key required for in a transaction?
TMOTTM
# Whats the public key required for in a transaction?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-01-28)

In figure 1 of the original paper by satoshi, why include the public key of the next owner in the hash?

**Tags:** hash


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-01-28. Score: 2

The public key belongs to, and identifies, the recipient of the funds. Without it, the network doesn't know who the money goes to, and the rightful owner can't use it.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Ok, but is that so to speak the same thing like the address of the recipient?  
> **username_1**: @username_0: Almost. Technically, a Bitcoin address is a Base58-encoded *hash* of the public key. These days outputs don't specify the actual public key but only the hash. This was only developed some time after Satoshi published the original whitepaper.  

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