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
Register Address
POST https://api-dex.chainstream.io/v1/kyt/address
Authorization: Bearer <access_token>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"address": "0x1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678"
}
Get Risk Assessment
GET https://api-dex.chainstream.io/v1/kyt/addresses/{address}/risk
Authorization: Bearer <access_token>
Make Decision
Severe/High → Reject transactionMedium → Request additional KYCLow → 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-dex.chainstream.io/v1/kyt/address', {
method: 'POST',
headers: {
'Authorization': `Bearer ${accessToken}`,
'Content-Type': 'application/json'
},
body: JSON.stringify({ address })
});
// 2. Get risk assessment
const riskResponse = await fetch(
`https://api-dex.chainstream.io/v1/kyt/addresses/${address}/risk`,
{ headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${accessToken}` } }
);
const risk = await riskResponse.json();
results.push({
address,
risk: risk.risk,
addressType: risk.addressType
});
}
return results;
}
- 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
| 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
