KYA Core Concepts - ChainStream

What is KYA

KYA (Know Your Address) is a comprehensive mechanism for profiling and risk assessment of cryptocurrency addresses. By analyzing an address’s historical behavior, associated networks, and label information, it constructs a complete risk profile.

Core Question: Is this address trustworthy?KYA helps you fully understand an address’s historical behavior and risk status before interacting with it.

KYA vs KYT

KYA and KYT are complementary risk control tools that assess risk from different dimensions:

Dimension	KYT	KYA
Analysis Target	Individual transaction	Overall address
Time Dimension	Real-time snapshot	Historical accumulation
Core Question	Is this transaction safe?	Is this address trustworthy?
Update Frequency	Triggered per transaction	Periodic/on-demand
Data Depth	Transaction level	Profile level

Profiling Dimensions

KYA constructs address profiles from three core dimensions:

Entity Identification

Identify the type of entity behind an address to understand its nature and trustworthiness.

Entity Classification

Category	Description	Risk Weight	Identification Method
CEX	Centralized Exchange	Low	Known hot wallet addresses, deposit address patterns
DEX	Decentralized Exchange	Low-Medium	Smart contract identification, router addresses
Individual	Regular user address	Medium	Behavior pattern analysis, balance characteristics
Contract	Smart contract	Varies	On-chain code verification
Known Criminal	Confirmed criminal address	Very High	Law enforcement reports, sanctions lists

Entity Identification Flow

Confidence Levels

Entity identification results include confidence scores to help you evaluate reliability:

Level	Confidence	Description	Recommended Use
Confirmed	>95%	Officially confirmed or law enforcement reported	Use directly
High Confidence	80-95%	Strong feature matching	Recommended to use
Medium Confidence	50-80%	Partial feature matching	Use as reference
Low Confidence	<50%	Speculation	For reference only

Behavior Labels

Based on on-chain behavioral characteristics, the system automatically assigns corresponding labels.

Role Labels
Behavior Labels
Entity Labels

Reflect the address’s role in the on-chain ecosystem:

Label	Definition	Risk Implication
`whale`	Large holdings address (>$1M)	High market influence
`trader`	High-frequency trading behavior	Normal activity
`holder`	Long-term holding without movement	Low risk
`bot`	Programmatic trading characteristics	Needs attention
`smart_money`	Smart money	Professional trader

Reflect specific behavioral patterns:

Label	Definition	Risk Implication
`mixer_user`	Has used mixing services	High risk
`bridge_user`	Cross-chain bridge user	Medium risk
`defi_active`	Frequent DeFi protocol interactions	Normal
`nft_trader`	Active NFT trading	Normal
`new_address`	Newly created address	Needs observation

Identified ownership entities:

Label	Description
`exchange:binance`	Binance Exchange
`exchange:coinbase`	Coinbase Exchange
`defi:uniswap`	Uniswap Protocol
`bridge:multichain`	Cross-chain Bridge
`sanctions`	Sanctioned address

Label Combination Risk

Certain label combinations amplify risk signals:

High Risk Combination Examplemixer_user + high_value + new_addressRisk Level: HIGHReason: New address receiving large funds from mixer matches money laundering patterns

Low Risk Combination Examplewhale + holder + exchange:binanceRisk Level: LOWReason: Exchange-associated long-term large holder, normal behavior

Risk Factors

Core metrics for quantifying risk assessment, used to calculate comprehensive risk scores.

Core Risk Factors

Factor	Description	Calculation Method
Blacklist Exposure	Degree of association with blacklisted addresses	Direct/indirect exposure ratio
Anomaly Index	Degree of deviation from normal behavior	Statistical anomaly detection
Privacy Service Usage	Mixer/privacy protocol usage	Interaction history analysis
Geographic Risk	High-risk jurisdiction association	IP/exchange correlation
Temporal Anomaly	Abnormal time patterns	Transaction time analysis

Use Cases

1. Counterparty Due Diligence

Collect Counterparty Address

Collect wallet address from OTC trading counterparty

POST https://api.chainstream.io/v1/kyt/address
Authorization: Bearer <access_token>
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "address": "0x1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678"
}

Get Risk Assessment

GET https://api.chainstream.io/v1/kyt/addresses/{address}/risk
Authorization: Bearer <access_token>

Make Decision

Severe/High → Reject transaction
Medium → Request additional KYC
Low → Proceed normally

2. Batch Address Screening

Periodically screen existing user addresses:

async function batchScreenAddresses(addresses) {
  const results = [];
  
  for (const address of addresses) {
    // 1. Register address
    await fetch('https://api.chainstream.io/v1/kyt/address', {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: {
        'Authorization': `Bearer ${accessToken}`,
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({ address })
    });
    
    // 2. Get risk assessment
    const riskResponse = await fetch(
      `https://api.chainstream.io/v1/kyt/addresses/${address}/risk`,
      { headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${accessToken}` } }
    );
    const risk = await riskResponse.json();
    
    results.push({
      address,
      risk: risk.risk,
      addressType: risk.addressType
    });
  }
  
  return results;
}

Business Flow:

Export user address list
Batch register and query risk
Filter high-risk addresses
Trigger follow-up processing

3. Real-time Risk Alerts

Provide risk alerts before wallet users transfer:

Data Elements

Input Data

Field	Required	Description
address	✅	Address to query

Output Data

{
  "address": "0x0038AC785dfB6C82b2c9A7B3B6854e08a10cb9f1",
  "risk": "Low",
  "riskReason": null,
  "addressType": "PRIVATE_WALLET",
  "cluster": null,
  "addressIdentifications": [],
  "exposures": [
    {
      "category": "sanctions",
      "value": 0.0
    }
  ],
  "triggers": [],
  "status": "COMPLETE"
}

Response Field Description

Field	Type	Description
address	string	Queried address
risk	string	Risk level: `Severe`, `High`, `Medium`, `Low`
riskReason	string	Risk reason (can be null)
addressType	string	Address type: `PRIVATE_WALLET`, `EXCHANGE`, `CONTRACT`, etc.
cluster	string	Associated cluster name (can be null)
addressIdentifications	array	Address identification labels
exposures	array	Risk exposure list
triggers	array	Triggered risk rules
status	string	Analysis status: `COMPLETE`, `PENDING`

Synergy with KYT

KYA and KYT should be used together in practice to achieve comprehensive risk management.

Synergy Pattern

Decision Matrix

KYT Result	KYA Result	Combined Decision
SEVERE	Any	Immediate freeze
HIGH	HIGH/SEVERE	Freeze pending review
HIGH	LOW/MEDIUM	Manual review
MEDIUM	HIGH/SEVERE	Manual review
MEDIUM	MEDIUM	Enhanced monitoring
LOW	LOW	Auto-approve
LOW	HIGH	Flag for monitoring

Best Practices

1. Caching Strategy

KYA results can be cached moderately:

Risk Level	Recommended Cache Duration	Reason
SEVERE	No caching	May have updates
HIGH	1 hour	Needs fresh data
MEDIUM	6 hours	Balance performance
LOW	24 hours	Low risk is stable

2. Incremental Update

For monitoring existing addresses:

Recommended Approach

Initial full query to establish baseline
Daily incremental update for HIGH and above addresses
Weekly incremental update for MEDIUM addresses
Monthly full refresh

3. Threshold Tuning

Adjust thresholds based on business scenarios:

Scenario	Recommended Adjustment
High-value clients	Raise MEDIUM threshold
New users	Strictly use default thresholds
Batch screening	Slightly relax to avoid excessive false positives

Next Steps

Compliance Integration Guide

Start integrating KYA

KYT Core Concepts

Learn about transaction-level risk control

API Authentication

Understand authentication methods

KYA API Reference

View API documentation

​What is KYA

​KYA vs KYT

​Profiling Dimensions

​Entity Identification

​Entity Classification

​Entity Identification Flow

​Confidence Levels

​Behavior Labels

​Label Combination Risk

​Risk Factors

​Core Risk Factors

​Use Cases

​1. Counterparty Due Diligence

​2. Batch Address Screening

​3. Real-time Risk Alerts

​Data Elements

​Input Data

​Output Data

​Response Field Description

​Synergy with KYT

​Synergy Pattern

​Decision Matrix

​Best Practices

​1. Caching Strategy

​2. Incremental Update

​3. Threshold Tuning

​Next Steps

Compliance Integration Guide

KYT Core Concepts

API Authentication

KYA API Reference

What is KYA

KYA vs KYT

Profiling Dimensions

Entity Identification

Entity Classification

Entity Identification Flow

Confidence Levels

Behavior Labels

Label Combination Risk

Risk Factors

Core Risk Factors

Use Cases

1. Counterparty Due Diligence

2. Batch Address Screening

3. Real-time Risk Alerts

Data Elements

Input Data

Output Data

Response Field Description

Synergy with KYT

Synergy Pattern

Decision Matrix

Best Practices

1. Caching Strategy

2. Incremental Update

3. Threshold Tuning

Next Steps