Total Addresses
The Total Addresses metric represents the cumulative count of all unique ICP addresses that have ever participated in a successful on-chain transaction. Each address is counted only once, the first time it appears, regardless of how many transactions it executes thereafter. This includes standard transfers, staking or neuron-related activity and operations like mint or burn. Failed or reverted transactions are excluded to ensure the metric reflects confirmed network participation.
How it’s calculated
This metric is calculated by continuously scanning all validated blocks on the ICP blockchain and maintaining a ledger of distinct addresses. Whenever an address appears for the first time, it is added to the total count. Unlike Active or New Addresses, this metric is cumulative, representing the overall footprint of all addresses that have interacted with the network since inception.
Interpretation of trends
Total Addresses provides a broad view of network growth over time:
- Rising Total Addresses: Indicates continued network adoption and expansion, showing that new participants are entering the ICP ecosystem and engaging with on-chain activity.
- Slower growth: May occur during periods where onboarding of new participants is moderate, signaling stabilization in the overall network size.
- Plateaus or minimal change: Suggest that the network has reached a period of relative maturity or that growth in participation has slowed significantly.
While the cumulative count reflects the scale of network adoption, it does not capture activity intensity or recency. A high total does not imply that all addresses are active, nor does it indicate the size or value of transactions associated with those addresses.
Limitations
Despite its usefulness as a historical measure of network reach, Total Addresses has several limitations:
- Dormant addresses: Many addresses may no longer be active, meaning the metric can overstate the number of participants currently engaged with the network.
- Multiple addresses per user: Individual participants may control multiple addresses, which inflates the total count relative to the actual number of distinct users.
- Automated creation: Canisters or scripts generating addresses programmatically may add to the total without reflecting human adoption.
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