Prerequisites
- You previously manually added custom labels for specific addresses on on-chain tools (Etherscan, Arkham) or relied on the platform's built-in labels to judge address identities.
- You now find that the target label has disappeared or displayed abnormally, and need to reconfirm the ownership of the corresponding address.
A missing wallet label is not necessarily caused by a tool bug. The more common reasons are: you are using someone else's "public label" that has been corrected, or you are using an "AI prediction label" that is never guaranteed to be accurate.
Labels fall into two categories: "Private Label / My Name Tag" that you add manually after logging into your account, and "Public Name Tag / Entity" maintained by the platform. During tool updates, public labels may be adjusted due to updated ownership confirmation, while AI labels may disappear or be replaced directly after the prediction model is revised.
Step 1: Confirm whether the missing label is a "Public Label", "AI Prediction Label" or "Private Label"
[Action Goal]: Judge the property of the missing label to determine the correct verification path.
How to operate: Recall or check the source of the label. If you saw the label directly without logging in, or the tool page shows the label with a question mark or purple border, it belongs to a public or AI prediction label, not your personal note.
Scenario A: The label belongs to the "AI Prediction Label" category (usually marked with a question mark or purple border) → Unreliable source. This type of label is essentially a probabilistic guess, which can be corrected or removed at any time. SharpLink once suffered market panic and stock price drop because Arkham's AI model incorrectly marked a third-party wallet as belonging to SharpLink, and Arkham finally confirmed the label error and removed it. IOSG Ventures also experienced a similar wrong Arkham label incident, and the official has clarified that the related address does not belong to the team. Operation tip: Never make any trading decisions relying on this type of label. If you need to confirm the address identity, you must verify it independently through other channels.
Scenario B: The label belongs to the "Public Label" category → It may be updated or deleted by the platform based on new information. Binance has phased out old deposit addresses and corresponding labels in batches before, requiring users to get new addresses according to official notifications. Public labels may also be corrected due to address ownership disputes or project party appeals. Operation tip: Go to the official announcement or social media accounts of the tool, search for any update notes about the corresponding address label.
Scenario C: The label belongs to your manually added "Private Label" → Private labels are only stored in your personal account, and will not disappear due to global tool updates. If this type of label disappears, the most common reasons are you are not logged in to your account or browser cache issues. Operation tip: Check if you have logged in to your account. If you are already logged in but the label is still missing, try clearing the browser cache or switching networks to reload the page.
Completion Standard: You have clearly identified the type of the missing label, and ruled out self-caused issues such as not logging in or cache errors.
Step 2: Independently verify the address identity through transaction behavior patterns
[Action Goal]: After public or AI labels disappear, re-judge the ownership of the address through its on-chain behavior.
How to operate: Check the recent transfer records of this address in the block explorer. The accuracy of public labels is usually based on historical interaction patterns, and you can make judgments with the same logic.
Scenario A: The address has regular interactions with a known institutional address (such as receiving funds regularly from the same contract, or making batch transfers to the same exchange hot wallet) → Even if the label disappears, the behavior pattern itself can still provide valid reference. For example, if an address frequently receives tokens from a known foundation address, or makes regular deposits to a specific exchange, its identity can be inferred through these features.
Scenario B: The transaction pattern of this address cannot match any known entity, or is more consistent with the new displayed label → Accept the fact that the original label has been corrected. One of the purposes of tool updates is to fix past wrong labeling.
Completion Standard: You have drawn an independent judgment on the ownership of the address through its transaction records, and no longer rely solely on the disappeared label.
High Risk Warning: The risk of making trading decisions relying solely on wallet labels is that labels can be wrong. Unverified AI prediction labels are essentially probability assumptions, and should never be regarded as facts. Once a wrong label causes you to misjudge whale behavior or institutional trends, it may lead to direct financial losses. Never give up your own on-chain verification process just because you see a displayed label.
Step 3: If the label is important to you, add a local "Private Label" to replace it
[Action Goal]: For addresses that need long-term monitoring, use private labels to solidify your judgment, and do not rely on platform public labels.
How to operate: Register and log in to accounts on platforms such as Etherscan and Arkham. Find the "My Name Tag" or "Private Labels" setting entry on the address page, and add your custom label and notes for the address.
Scenario A: You have confirmed the real ownership of the address (through multi-party verification) → Add a private label, and attach a note indicating the verification basis and date. In this way, even if the public label changes again, your custom label will still be retained.
Scenario B: You cannot independently confirm the ownership of the address → Do not write deterministic descriptions in the private label, you can mark it as "To Be Verified" or note its behavior features (such as "On-chain data is suspected to be associated with XX"), to avoid misleading yourself.
Completion Standard: Key addresses have been solidified with private labels in your own account, no longer relying on any third-party public labels.
Common Failure Reasons
Many users immediately conclude that "the tool is broken" when they see the label disappear, without distinguishing the type of the label. In fact, the accuracy of AI prediction labels is not 100%, and removing wrong labels during tool updates is a normal maintenance behavior. Another common mistake is treating "AI prediction labels" as officially verified information. AI prediction labels on Arkham are clearly marked with purple borders and question marks, which means "unconfirmed", but many users ignore this visual reminder.
Verification Method After Operation
Log in to your Etherscan or Arkham account, and confirm whether the private label of the target address is retained in the "My Name Tag" area on the address page. If the address needs your long-term attention, take a screenshot of the private label setting page as your own reference.
Next Follow-up Actions
For addresses that you cannot independently confirm the ownership but have significantly abnormal transaction volume, create a "watch list" to check their transfer records and balance changes once a week, instead of making judgments relying on one-time labels. Recommended verification channels: the "Transactions" tab on the Etherscan address page, and the "Top Counterparties" module on the Arkham entity page.
