Bitcoin Wallet Investigation Techniques
This newsletter will examine how to research wallet addresses and discover the entity that owns them. For this newsletter, we will be attempting to identify one bitcoin address:
3Kzh9qAqVWQhEsfQz7zEQL1EuSx5tyNLNS.
Tools Used
Breadcrumbs: https://www.breadcrumbs.app/reports/3Kzh9qAqVWQhEsfQz7zEQL1EuSx5tyNLNS/2/10/10.
Bitinfo Charts: https://bitinfocharts.com/
Blockchain Bitcoin Explorer: https://www.blockchain.com/
Twitter Whale Alert: https://twitter.com/whale_alert
Blockstream: https://blockstream.info/
Hypothesis
Using Blockstream and the blockchain.com bitcoin explorer, we can see that the address 3Kzh9qAqVWQhEsfQz7zEQL1EuSx5tyNLNS has a high number of transactions carried out.
According to these services, as of the 15th of September 2022, the wallet has conducted 1,642 transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain. The wallet has received a total of 1,319,572.48031227 BTC ($26,583,803,686.70) and has sent a total of 1,252,571.40022852 BTC ($25,234,015,337.58).
Examining the address on Bitinfocharts, we can see that the wallet first transacted on the 25th of August, 2015. Suggesting that the wallet has been around since the early days of bitcoin and is possibly an institutional player in the blockchain industry.
The first transaction to this wallet came from the bitcoin address:
19qNXobvkfuhLeiqFqW76zJLS8hajTzoso.
Examining this address on breadcrumbs, we can observe that the originating funds came as one of the only transactions carried out on this address; however, the wallet is labeled as Okex on Bitinfocharts.
Examining the address 3FupZp77ySr7jwoLYEJ9mwzJpvoNBXsBnE that has had several interactions with the subject address, we can observe that it has had several interactions with notable exchanges, including coinbase, Okex, Bitfinex, Bitstamp, and Gemini. This suggests that since this wallet had interactions with these other wallets labeled as these exchanges, it might be one of the exchanges named above.
While Breadcrumbs labels the wallet 3FupZp77ySr7jwoLYEJ9mwzJpvoNBXsBnE as Coinbase, I am inclined to believe it is a mislabelling derived from the old labeling on Bitinfochart.
Refocusing on the subject of this analysis, when we examine the address using bitinfochart, we can see the wallet labeled as an Okex wallet, thus narrowing the options down a little.
To finalize my hypothesis, these are what I considered:
Examining the subject address, 3Kzh9qAqVWQhEsfQz7zEQL1EuSx5tyNLNS on breadcrumbs, we can see that the address is labeled as coinbase. We should assume that this might have been derived from the old labeling on Bitinfochart, shown in the tweet below:
Examining the originating wallet and the wallet address, 3FupZp77ySr7jwoLYEJ9mwzJpvoNBXsBnE has had many transactions with the subject address; they are also marked as Okex wallets on bitinfochart.
If we examine the addresses the subject address interacted with on breadcrumbs and bitinfochart, we will notice that the wallets are majorly non-US exchanges; this leads me to believe that Okex, not Coinbase, owns the subject address.
Conclusion
While some analysts might hold on to the coinbase labeling, I will conclude that OKex owns the subject address. The undisputable part of this analysis is that the subject wallet is an exchange or an entity engaged in providing financial services, considering the high number of transactions conducted and the sheer frequency of these transactions.