2
If I understand addresses correctly, different types of addresses are used to map to a particular locking script (scriptPubKey).
So based on the leading character of an address, a wallet will decode the address, and then form the appropriate locking script around it.
For example:
P2PKH = 1address
13qWKACQWgQDwDRDoRtqUbN59bar6ousQf
OP_DUP OP_HASH160 1f1cafe31d63e061a3f74b541f4ce7a4515b4d0c OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG
P2SH = 3address
3MmRfLoNzap2Mt8PwHqhVtxHsmdRieuXfk
OP_HASH160 dc37feb38b5a4ad4bf09bc61eea4831f85c58103 OP_EQUAL
P2PK = n/a
n/a
031b0e8c2567c12536aa13357b79a073dc4444acb83c4ec7a0e2f99dd7457516c5 OP_CHECKSIG
Why is it that P2PK scripts have never been given their own address?
Why not give the public key in a P2PK a checksum, then base58 encode it with it's own leading character so that we can have an address for it?
2Downvoted. This is very confused and does not answer the question. P2PK outputs do not require presenting a public key and a signature; only a signature. P2PKH outputs do not require presenting a public key hash and a signature; they require a public key and a signature. – Pieter Wuille – 2019-06-23T18:27:38.950