<p>First off, you should really start thinking in terms of <em>addresses</em> rather than <em>accounts</em>, especially when doing block chain analysis.  See here:  <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/7490/what-is-the-difference-between-accounts-and-adresses">What is the difference between accounts and adresses?</a></p>

<p>You should also start thinking about transaction inputs not in terms of addresses, but rather unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs).  Each UTXO will generally have an address associated with it, but in the case of multisig, may have several addresses in a single UTXO.  So in this case, even a single input to a transaction has more than one person associated.</p>

<p>There are also the cases of coin mixers, web wallets, and exchanges, which often create single transactions that include many inputs and many outputs, all coming from and going to different people.</p>

<p>So to answer the question, no, you cannot assume that all addresses used as inputs to a transaction come from the same person.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-07-07T14:58:03.623Z
A UTXO really has just one address, but that could be a multisig address that requires signatures from multiple keys.
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-07-07T14:50:21.090Z
2016-07-07T14:50:21.090Z
2017-04-13T12:47:36.707Z
Jestin
<p>I am analysing some BTC transactions for academic purposes.</p>

<p>As part of that work, I would like to identify users with several accounts and regroup them under a single identifier.</p>

<p>I have assumed that when a transaction has several accounts paying in, it is likely that it is the same person using several accounts.</p>

<p>Is this assumption correct or could there be other reasons for having several accounts paying into the same transaction.</p>

<transactions><bitcoin-core><bitcoin-core-accounts>
Regrouping accounts belonging to same user
ulrich
# Regrouping accounts belonging to same user

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-07-07)

I am analysing some BTC transactions for academic purposes.

As part of that work, I would like to identify users with several accounts and regroup them under a single identifier.

I have assumed that when a transaction has several accounts paying in, it is likely that it is the same person using several accounts.

Is this assumption correct or could there be other reasons for having several accounts paying into the same transaction.

**Tags:** transactions, bitcoin-core, bitcoin-core-accounts


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-07-07. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

First off, you should really start thinking in terms of *addresses* rather than *accounts*, especially when doing block chain analysis. See here: [What is the difference between accounts and adresses?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/7490/what-is-the-difference-between-accounts-and-adresses)

You should also start thinking about transaction inputs not in terms of addresses, but rather unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs). Each UTXO will generally have an address associated with it, but in the case of multisig, may have several addresses in a single UTXO. So in this case, even a single input to a transaction has more than one person associated.

There are also the cases of coin mixers, web wallets, and exchanges, which often create single transactions that include many inputs and many outputs, all coming from and going to different people.

So to answer the question, no, you cannot assume that all addresses used as inputs to a transaction come from the same person.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: A UTXO really has just one address, but that could be a multisig address that requires signatures from multiple keys.  

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