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Blockchain Address

Technical · Wallets, Custody & Access · Networks & Protocol Infrastructure · Last reviewed: September 2026

A blockchain address is a network-specific identifier used as a source, destination, account, or script reference in blockchain transactions.

Explanation

Address formats differ by network. An address can be derived from a public key, represent a smart contract, encode a script, or identify an account under the ledger's data model. Sending assets to an incompatible network or address type can make them difficult or impossible to recover. An address is visible on-chain even when the real-world identity of its controller is not.

Boundaries

An address is a ledger identifier. It should not be treated as identical to a person, wallet application, or public key in every blockchain architecture.

Why it matters

Addresses provide the routing layer for stablecoin transfers and are also the basic identifiers used in transaction monitoring, allowlists, and blockchain analytics.

Example

A merchant can provide an address on a supported network as the destination for a customer's stablecoin payment.

Related terms

Sources

  1. Joseph Bonneau, Andrew Miller, Jeremy Clark, Arvind Narayanan, Joshua A. Kroll, and Edward W. Felten. SoK: Research Perspectives and Challenges for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies. IEEE, 2015 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, pp. 104-121, 2015. doi:10.1109/SP.2015.14 Peer-reviewed research
  2. Regulation of Crypto Assets. International Monetary Fund, IMF FinTech Note No. 2019/003, 2019. Institutional analysis
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