Public addresses and private keys

In this video, Andreas Antonopoulos helps us understand the concepts of public addresses and private keys by using an analogy involving public lockboxes.

Creator	Time	URL
Andreas Antonopoulos	10min	Full source

Takeaway Public addresses can be seen by everybody. Everybody can send bitcoin from it. Only the owner(s) of the private key that is associated with the public address can send bitcoin from it. Because the entire Bitcoin blockchain and thus all transactions are public, everybody can see how much Bitcoin a public address has. It is therefore important to apply good key management, not only to of course ensure nobody gets your private key but also to prevent your own identity be linked with a single or particular public bitcoin address.