Geo-Measurability

Geo-measurability works in two stages. First, master_list marks whether an address is even eligible for attribution (measurability). Second, addresses_geography records which eligible addresses actually received a country, and with what conviction. This page explains both, and why hosted and unhosted wallets require different methods.

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Two-stage measurability

Stage 1 — eligibility (master_list.measurability). Almost every address is eligible: Only a small set is hard-excluded, via not_measurable_reason: Stage 2 — attribution coverage (addresses_geography). Being eligible does not guarantee a country. Only ~25% of addresses (~20M of ~80M) end up with a row in addresses_geography. The remaining ~75% are eligible but lack sufficient signal — they are not “missing data,” they simply have no confident attribution yet.

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Hosted vs Unhosted Wallets: Why They’re Different

master_list.wallet_type splits attributable wallets into hosted (custodial) and unhosted (self-custody) because they require completely different methods.

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Hosted Wallets (Custodial)

Definition: Addresses controlled by a centralized entity (exchange, custodian) that holds funds on behalf of users. In master_list, hosted wallets are exchange-labeled addresses. Why they’re easier to measure:

1. Declared operating country — exchanges disclose their headquarters / primary jurisdiction
2. Regulatory footprint — license requirements reveal operating countries
3. Web traffic signals — SimilarWeb shows where their users are located
4. Single attribution — one local/regional exchange wallet maps to one country

Hosted subtypes (master_list.hosted_subtype):

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Unhosted Wallets (Self-Custody)

Definition: Addresses where the user holds their own keys — MetaMask, Ledger, smart-contract wallets, general EOAs. This is the bulk of the population (~58M addresses). Why they’re harder to measure:

1. No declared country — users don’t register with a jurisdiction
2. Pseudonymous — no KYC
3. Indirect signals only — geography must be inferred from counterparties, transaction timing, and wallet-relatedness clusters
4. Multi-country usage — one wallet may be used from several countries (VPN, travel)

Attribution method (multi-stage inference):

1. Direct labels — a labeled wallet with a known country
2. Flow-based propagation — a wallet related to labeled wallets (via direct two-way transfers, shared funders, or shared CEX deposit wallets) inherits their country, weighted by relatedness
3. Timezone inference — hour-of-day activity distribution suggests a region (supporting signal; see addresses_timezones)

The addresses_geography.reasoning column records, in plain language, exactly which signals drove each attribution (e.g. “Propagated from 20 related wallet(s) via shared funders within a 24-72h window.”).

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Conviction, not probability

Attribution quality is expressed as a conviction level, not a 0–1 probability. addresses_geography.confidence (and addresses_timezones.conviction_level) use a five-tier scale:

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Why This Matters for Your Analysis

• Understand the denominator. ~75% of addresses lack a country because they lack a confident signal — not because the data is broken. Smart contracts, infra, and burn addresses are separately flagged not_measurable in master_list.
• Choose the right conviction floor. Compliance → High/Very High Conviction; regional sizing → Moderate and up; research → include all tiers but stratify.
• Don’t mix hosted and unhosted. A country tied to a local exchange wallet is an operating jurisdiction; a country tied to an unhosted wallet is an inferred user location. They answer different questions.

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Next Steps