How wallet attribution works
A blockchain shows every transfer and no names. Analytics providers add the names from several kinds of evidence:
- Their own test deposits and withdrawals at services, which reveal those services' addresses
- Clustering: grouping addresses that behave as one wallet
- Published lists, such as sanctions designations that include addresses
- Addresses that firms disclose themselves, for example in proof of reserves
- Court filings, seizure notices and open-source research
Why wallet attribution matters
Wallet screening and transaction monitoring depend on it: a risk score is only as good as the labels behind it. Travel Rule tools use the same data to tell whether a withdrawal address belongs to another provider or is self-hosted.
Wallet attribution is an industry term with no legal definition. Recital 17 of the EU's Transfer of Funds Regulation does name distributed ledger analytic tools, used to detect the origin or destination of crypto-assets, among the procedures providers may adopt where risk is higher.
The limits of wallet attribution
Attribution is inference, not proof. Labels differ between providers, lag behind new services and can be wrong, so a policy that refuses customers on a single label needs a route for review.
Wallet attribution, clustering or screening?
- Address clustering
- Groups addresses controlled by one party, without saying who the party is. Attribution adds the name.
- Wallet screening
- The check a platform runs on one address. Attribution is the data that the check reads.
- KYC
- Identifies a platform's own customer from documents. Attribution identifies counterparties on the blockchain, who gave none.
Where Wallet attribution shows up in a platform
Modules that do the work
- Compliance reportingTransaction monitoring, the Travel Rule and regulatory reports, ready for your regulator.
- KYC / AMLIdentity checks, screening and ongoing monitoring, with the verification provider you choose.
- Fraud & riskReal-time fraud scoring, limits and case management, with the risk engines you already trust.
Platforms that need it
Where it is written
The laws and standards this page's facts come from.
General information, not legal advice: what applies to you depends on your services and your market.