Common Input Ownership

Common Input Ownership is a heuristic based on the observation that when multiple addresses provide inputs to a single transaction, they are likely controlled by the same person or entity. This is a primary mechanism for clustering wallets in the Bitcoin UTXO model.

By assuming that a single transaction signature represents a unified control point, analysts can build large clusters of related addresses. While this heuristic is generally accurate, it can be misled by protocols that facilitate collaborative transactions.

Despite these edge cases, it remains one of the most reliable methods for entity identification. It is widely used by block explorers and chain analysis firms to label addresses.

This technique provides the structural basis for much of the on-chain intelligence available today. It effectively transforms raw transaction data into a map of economic actors.