What is Blockchain explorer?
Blockchain explorer is an online tool that allows you to view and track all activities on a specific blockchain network. You can think of it as the “Google for cryptocurrencies” – instead of searching websites, you search for transactions, addresses, and blocks in the blockchain explorer.
It provides users with insight into important information such as transaction status, number of confirmations, sending time, fee amount, and attendee addresses. Each cryptocurrency usually has its own blockchain explorer (e.g. Blockchain.com for Bitcoin, Etherscan for Ethereum, Tronscan for Tron), and they all work in a similar way – you simply enter the address or data you have and get a real-time overview of your transactions.
Source: cointelegraph
Each blockchain has its own explorer
Each cryptocurrency or blockchain network has its own explorer. This means that, for example, you cannot check Ethereum transactions through Bitcoin explorer and vice versa.
The most well-known cryptocurrencies often have several different explorers. Thus, for Bitcoin, there are tools such as Blockchain.com, Blockchair, BlockCypher or Tokenview, while for Ethereum Etherscan and Ethplorer are the most commonly used.
If you’re looking for an explorer for a specific cryptocurrency, the easiest way to find it is to type the name of the currency and the term “block explorer” into Google, or search for the “Explorers” section on sites like CoinMarketCap or CoinGecko .
It is important to know that there are public and private blockchain networks. With public (such as Bitcoin and Ethereum), anyone can track and verify transactions, while private blockchains are only available to select participants.
Source: cointelegraph
What can you do with Blockchain explorer?
Blockchain explorer offers much more than just transaction verification. It provides insight into almost every detail of the blockchain network – from the history of transactions, through the number of confirmations, to data on the total amount of cryptocurrency in circulation.
Most of the time, users use it to:
- Track transaction history – by entering an address, you can see all received and sent transactions, amounts and dates.
- Check the status of the transaction – it is clear whether the transaction is still in the process of being processed (Pending) or already confirmed (Confirmed), as well as the number of confirmations.
- Analyze the network – data on block size, number of unconfirmed transactions (mempool), average fees and network speed are available.
- See the total circulation – e.g. how many Bitcoins have been mined so far out of the maximum 21 million.
In other words, blockchain explorer is a window to the entire network – with it, you can track not only your own, but also any public transactions, because the blockchain is open and transparent.