Sending and receiving crypto feel like two sides of the same action, but they carry very different levels of risk, and that difference is worth understanding clearly.
Receiving is the safe side. To receive crypto, you simply share your public wallet address with the sender. That address is meant to be public, like an account number for incoming payments. Sharing it exposes nothing dangerous; at most it reveals that address's balance to anyone who looks.
Sending is where care is required. To send, your wallet must authorise the transaction using your private key. You choose the recipient's address, the amount, and confirm. Because a confirmed transaction cannot be reversed, mistakes here are permanent. Sending to a wrong address, or on the wrong network, can lose the funds for good.
So the mental model is: receiving is low-risk and just needs your public address, while sending is high-stakes and demands you double-check the address, the network, and the amount every time, ideally with a small test first.
