Answers / 4 September 2026
What is on-chain entity attribution?
On-chain entity attribution is the work of naming the real-world entity behind a blockchain address: the exchange, OTC desk, fund, miner, treasury or issuer that controls it. BlockQuery's attribution layer, built by Chainlabs over six years, names 18,000 commercial entities across 30+ blockchains, with every attribution human-verified and backed by source evidence.
Why an address is not an answer
Every blockchain shows what moved, when, and between which addresses. It does not show who. A transfer of 400 BTC from one string to another is a fact without a subject. Attribution supplies the subject, so the same transfer reads as a desk moving size onto a venue.
How addresses get attributed
There are two layers. Direct research: analysts establish who controls an address from verifiable evidence such as deposit behaviour, published addresses and operational patterns. 90,000 addresses carry this kind of direct attribution. Entity clustering: once a set of addresses is known to belong to one entity, the way they are spent together extends the same attribution to the addresses that move with them. Hundreds of millions of addresses are attributed this way: 312M+ on Bitcoin, 47M+ on Ethereum and 94.4M+ on Tron. Every attribution is human-verified by a team of intelligence analysts and carries source evidence, and the layer grows by around 300 new attributions a month.
What it looks like as data
A record: size, source entity, destination entity, the transaction date, and the date the attribution was established. Both sides named where we have them. That last field is what makes the data safe to backtest against; see point-in-time attribution.
What it is used for
Trading desks use it to read flow with names attached: which desk moved size onto which venue, where a stablecoin mint landed, whether a counterparty has started routing elsewhere. It is data, not a signal. It does not predict price.
Frequently asked questions
Is entity attribution the same as address clustering?
No. Clustering groups addresses that appear to be controlled together. Attribution goes further and names the controller, with evidence. Clustering tells you two addresses belong to the same someone; attribution tells you who.
How is accuracy maintained?
Every attribution in the BlockQuery layer is human-verified by intelligence analysts and carries verifiable source evidence, rather than being inferred by an algorithm alone. Each attribution also carries the date it was established, so you can always see what was known when.
Which kinds of entity are covered?
Exchanges, OTC desks, funds, miners, corporate treasuries, ETF issuers and stablecoin issuers: 18,000 commercial entities in total, including 800+ OTC desks and 480+ regional exchanges.
Can I get it as a data feed?
Yes. Multi-year history as CSV or parquet, plus a live API in the identical schema. Bitcoin first, additional chains on request.
Request one month of sample data
Entity data feeds: the attribution layer as data you own, in the schema you would receive.