What is pay-to-public-key (P2PK)?

Early mining rewards, including the coins thought to be Satoshi's, were paid this way. Many later address types hide the key behind a fingerprint until spending; TaprootTaprootA 2021 upgrade that added Schnorr signatures and addresses starting bc1p, making complex payments cheaper and more private. addresses instead include an output key from the start.

Because the key is visible, P2PK coins would be among the first a powerful quantum computerQuantum computer (qubit)A computer that uses quantum physics to solve some problems far faster than ordinary ones. Its working parts are called qubits. could target. About 1.7 million bitcoin sit in them, by one developer's count.