Glossary entry
On-Chain Data
FundamentalsOn-chain data explained: the public, permanent record of transactions and contract state, how analysts use it, and what it means for privacy.
Definition
On-chain data is everything permanently written to a blockchain and readable by anyone: transactions, addresses and balances, smart contract state, block timestamps and event logs. It is the raw material for block explorers, wallets, tax tools and blockchain analytics firms, which combine it with off-chain information to attribute activity to real people and businesses. Because on-chain data is public and cannot be deleted, privacy is a design problem rather than a default — reusing a single address links your transactions together, and one connection to a verified exchange account can expose an entire history. Analysts also read on-chain data as market context, tracking active addresses, exchange flows or total value locked, though such metrics are noisy and easy to misinterpret.
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