Chain notes, explained
An address report on satoshis.watch can include a short card called Chain notes. Each line is an observation about what the public Bitcoin blockchain shows for that address. The notes describe; they do not rate. An address is not safe or unsafe because of them.
How to read the card
Each row has a title, a colour word and one sentence. Good means nothing on that line stands out. Info is a fact worth knowing. Warning and Attention call for a closer look at that observation. Spending-cost notes describe possible fees; Pending describes an unconfirmed amount. Public label and Surveillance flag describe third-party information, not a safety rating.
The notes
- Unspent outputsThe pieces of bitcoin an address holds, and why many small pieces cost more to spend.
- Small outputsPieces of bitcoin too small to be worth the fee to spend them. They stay with the address.
- Unspent output distributionBitcoin spends whole pieces and sends the difference back. Why that matters when one piece holds most of a balance.
- Address reuseHow many transactions an address appears in, and why wallets hand out a fresh address each time.
- Address typeThe four address formats and what their first characters can tell you.
- Activity and PendingWhen the address last took part in a transaction, and what a transaction waiting for confirmation is.
Two more notes, Public label and Surveillance flag, appear only on a public report when third-party label data mentions the address. They are informational and not a verified attribution.
Messages from the chain-data notes
- Good
3 unspent outputs. Fees depend on which outputs a transaction spends.
- Good
7 unspent outputs. Not highly fragmented.
- Warning
27 unspent outputs. Spending many separate outputs together can cost more in fees than spending fewer, larger outputs.
- Attention
80 unspent outputs. This address holds many separate coins. Spending them together can cost more in fees than spending fewer, larger coins.
- Good
No output costs more to spend than it holds at typical fees.
- Warning
2 unspent outputs (400 sats) cost more to spend than they hold at typical fees.
- Good
Seen in one transaction.
- Good
Seen in two transactions.
- Info
Seen in 9 transactions. Repeated use of one address is publicly linkable.
- Good
Taproot (P2TR). Fee and privacy effects depend on the transaction that spends it.
- Good
Native SegWit (Bech32). Relative fees depend on transaction structure.
- Info
Script hash (P2SH). The script behind it shows on the chain only when an output is spent.
- Info
Legacy (P2PKH), the original address format. Relative fees depend on transaction structure.
- Info
The whole balance is one output. A partial spend of it creates a change output visible on the chain.
- Info
91% of the balance sits in one output. A partial spend of it creates a change output visible on the chain.
- Info
The largest output holds 75% of the balance.
- Good
The balance is spread across several unspent outputs. The largest holds 40%.
- Good
Active in the last week.
- Good
Last transaction 12 days ago.
- Info
Quiet. No transactions in 5 months.
- Info
Dormant. No transactions in 3 years.
- Info
Incoming transaction awaiting confirmation.
- Warning
Outgoing transaction awaiting confirmation.
The numbers are examples. Each report shows the real count, amount or date for its address.
Common questions
Are chain notes a safety score?
No. They are observations about what the public chain shows for one address: how its balance is split, how often it was used, what format it has and when it last moved. They say nothing about who controls it or whether it is safe to pay.
Why do the notes for my address differ from what my wallet shows?
A wallet uses many addresses and these notes describe one of them. See why one address is not a whole wallet.
Do the notes change?
Yes. The report uses the latest chain data it receives. A new transaction can change the count of pieces, the activity date or the pending line; refresh the report to check for updates.