What is a bitcoin address?

A Bitcoin address, or simply address, is an identifier of 27-34 alphanumeric characters, beginning with the number 1 or 3, that represents a possible destination for a Bitcoin payment which begs the question, if the hash doesn't have to adhere to the above specification, then why have the spec? I want to note.

What is a BC1 bitcoin address?

If you send bitcoin from these “bc1” addresses, you can save up to 80% in transaction fees vs. legacy addresses. They also help the network scale and are case-insensitive. SegWit (Segregated Witness) is a topic that deserves its own blog post.

How do I get access to bitcoins?

In order to get access to the bitcoins, you need to have the access to the bitcoin address or the bitcoin wallet (usually a wallet.dat file) containing that address. If you have the address, you can check if it has any balance on it with various explorers. You can access the address if you have its private key (password).

Should I stop using a bitcoin address?

"There is no reason to ever 'stop using' an address" -> There are plenty of reasons to stop using an address. First and foremost, reusing an address destroys your privacy. Bitcoin addresses are intended to be single-use only. And why not since it's free to make essentialy an unlimited amount of them for everyone.