# Wallet badges explained

> Every badge a Quantascan address can carry — what each one means, and when it's assigned.

**Badges** are the small chips at the top of every [address page](/learn/reading-an-address-page). They answer three questions at a glance: *what is this address*, *how big a holder is it*, and *what is it doing right now*. Hover — or tap on mobile — any badge to see a short explanation and why that specific wallet has it.

Badges fall into a few groups. The **earned** ones are sticky identity/safety facts and render prominently; the rest are lighter chips that describe current state or context.

## Identity badges (earned)

These describe what an address *is*. They come from Quantascan's classification job (on-chain behaviour), a protocol flag, or a curated label, and are recorded durably — an address doesn't quietly lose them.

- 💱 **Exchange** — a custodial exchange wallet, recognised because many distinct depositors send to it.
- 🏭 **Mining pool** — a pool that mines blocks and pays out to many members (QRL Legacy).
- ⛏️ **Miner** — a solo miner receiving coinbase block rewards (QRL Legacy).
- 🏦 **Staking pool** — a validator pool distributing rewards to many stakers (QRL 2.0).
- 🔒 **Staker** — an address that receives [validator withdrawals](/learn/withdrawals-explained) (QRL 2.0).
- 📜 **Contract** — a smart-contract account rather than a personal wallet (QRL 2.0).
- 🏛️ **Foundation** — a project- or foundation-controlled wallet, from a curated label.
- 🔥 **Burn address** — a provable sink; coins sent here are unspendable.
- 🛠️ **Deployer** — has deployed at least one smart contract (QRL 2.0). This is an overlay: a wallet can be a Deployer *and* something else.
- 🟢 **Validator** — an active consensus validator on QRL 2.0.

## Community badge (earned)

- 💜 **Supporter** — sent at least **1 Quanta** to the Quantascan [donation address](/donate). It's an on-chain thank-you for helping keep the explorer running, and appears automatically on the donating wallet.

## Safety badge (earned)

- 🚫 **Scam / flagged** — flagged as a scam or malicious address by moderation. This one is curated and can be added or removed by hand when evidence changes.

## Holder tiers (whale → shrimp)

Every wallet with a positive balance also gets an **ocean tier** — an [Etherscan-style](/learn/reading-a-block-explorer) size band by its share of **total supply**. It's the same ladder as the holder-distribution chart, and each step is 10× smaller than the one above it:

| Tier | Share of supply |
|------|-----------------|
| 🐋 Whale | ≥ 0.1% |
| 🦈 Shark | 0.01% – 0.1% |
| 🐬 Dolphin | 0.001% – 0.01% |
| 🐟 Fish | 0.0001% – 0.001% |
| 🦀 Crab | 0.00001% – 0.0001% |
| 🦐 Shrimp | < 0.00001% |

The tier is a *relative* measure: because it's a share of the whole, a wallet can change tier when total supply grows, not only when its own balance moves. It's a size indicator, not a judgement — see the [richlist](/learn/understanding-the-richlist) for the exact ranking.

## Live behaviour chips

These describe what a wallet is *doing*, computed on the fly from its own history. They change as reality changes.

- 🧠 **HODLer** — receives far more than it sends; a net accumulator.
- 🌪 **Distributor** — sends far more than it receives; a net distributor.

## Lifecycle chips

- 🌱 **New** — first seen recently (within the last month).
- 😴 **Dormant** — no activity for a long time (90+ days).

## Signature indicator

This shows which cryptography secures the address — the heart of QRL's [quantum resistance](/learn/quantum-resistance-explained).

- 🔑 **XMSS** — hash-based [one-time signatures](/learn/hash-based-signatures) (QRL Legacy).
- 🔐 **ML-DSA-87** — lattice-based [post-quantum signatures](/learn/ml-dsa-87-explained) (QRL 2.0).

## Where to go next

- [Reading an address page](/learn/reading-an-address-page) — the full tour of a wallet view.
- [Understanding the richlist](/learn/understanding-the-richlist) — how addresses are ranked by balance.
- [QRL tokenomics and supply](/learn/qrl-tokenomics-and-supply) — what "share of supply" is measured against.