Labelling Addresses So Your Records Make Sense Later
A five minute convention that turns an unreadable transaction history into something you can reconcile in a year.
Gabriel Mas ·
Addresses are unreadable by design. Without labels, a year of transactions is a list of strings nobody can interpret.
The convention
Three parts: who, what for, and which network. For example, a supplier name, the word invoices, and the network.
Short, consistent, and applied everywhere the address appears.
Step 1: label at the venue
Most exchanges let you name a saved withdrawal address. Do it at the moment you add it, not later.
This label appears in exports, which is where it does the real work.
Step 2: label in the wallet
Wallet software supports address books and labels for both your own addresses and counterparties.
Label your own receiving addresses by purpose, which lets you separate flows that would otherwise merge into one history.
Step 3: keep the external register
A single spreadsheet with address, label, network, purpose, date added and who verified it.
This is the authoritative version. Venue and wallet labels are copies, and copies drift.
Step 4: never reuse a label for a different address
An address replaced by a new one from the same counterparty gets a new row with the old one marked superseded and dated.
Overwriting loses the history of what was paid where, which is exactly what you will be reconstructing later.
Step 5: record the verification
Note how the address was confirmed and by whom. A voice call, a second channel, a test transfer.
In a company this is what makes a payment approvable without re-verifying.
What this prevents
Paying a superseded address. Reconciling two counterparties into one line. Being unable to answer an auditor asking what a transfer was for.
All three are common and all three are prevented by five minutes per address.
The export test
Run an export and read it as if you were someone else. If you cannot tell what each line was for, the labelling is not working yet.
An exchange with a withdrawal flow you can follow without guessing carries labels through into statements. Collect & Exchange keeps the saved name on the transaction record, which is the difference between a readable statement and a list of hashes, and a venue that confirms the address before sending shows the label at the confirmation step so a wrong selection is visible.