Whale watch

By default, a token transfer worth $1 million or more on an EVM chain, and a Bitcoin output of 20 BTC or $1 million, whichever it reaches first. Operators can change both. On the EVM chains we read the stablecoins, wrapped ether, wrapped bitcoin and the other major tokens that have a Chainlink price feed. Native ETH, POL and BNB sent without a token are not shown yet.

A Bitcoin transaction spends whole earlier outputs and pays what is left back to the sender as change. A block names the address of every output but not of the inputs, so without looking each input up we cannot always tell a payment from its change. Where an input spends an output we recorded earlier, or one created in the same block, we know who paid and leave out the change back to them. Other amounts may include change.

We record a token transfer once its block is deep enough that the chain will not reorganise it away: 64 blocks on Ethereum, about 13 minutes, and 5 to 10 minutes on the faster chains. A transfer shown here then never has to be taken back. Bitcoin transfers appear with their first confirmation; in the rare case that block is replaced, its transfers are removed.

From public labels only: the OFAC sanctions list, labels our analysts add, contracts we have verified and tags from block explorers. An exchange is named only from an address list it published itself, such as its proof-of-reserves wallets, and the name links to that list. We never guess who owns an address.

No. Many large transfers are an exchange moving coins between its own wallets, a custodian rebalancing, or a stablecoin issuer minting and burning. A deposit to an exchange can come before a sale, but often does not. This is information, not financial advice.