Public transparency is a key concept in cryptocurrencies. One of the great promises of blockchain is that it levels the playing field by not restricting information to a handful of people who are in a privileged position of control.
But what does that mean exactly? Can you find out how much bitcoins your neighbor owns? How can you take a look and verify public data yourself? That’s exactly what we’re going to show you in this article. Note that we focus on Bitcoin, but you can also find dedicated blockchain explorers for Litecoin, Ethereum, Binance, and pretty much any native blockchain.
Please read on and find how to create a blockchain explorer and what is a blockchain explorer
What is a blockchain explorer?
Blockchains solve this problem by introducing the concept of public transparency, where information is ready to be viewed by anyone at any time. For blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, all information is publicly visible by design, which is useful when transactions (or Txs) and contracts need to be easily identified and verified.
A blockchain explorer is like a search engine that reveals information about the past and current state of a blockchain. This can be useful when you want to track the progress of a specific payment or check the balance and history of an address. Anyone with an Internet connection can use an explorer to view all transactions of a public blockchain.
How does a block explorer work?
Every blockchain will have a Command Line Interface (CLI) to interact with the database and view the network’s history. However, a CLI explorer isn’t a user-friendly experience for the general public. That is why most blockchains will also have an explorer with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that will display information in a friendlier format.
Let’s go through what we can see here in a bit more detail:
-Price:An aggregated USD price feed across several markets. In most cases, the price depends on the feed’s provider and is not indicative of the spot price on a specific exchange.
-Estimated Hash Rate:An estimate of the computing power currently employed by miners to secure the blockchain. It can be seen as a proxy for the security of a Proof of Work (PoW)blockchain.
-Transactions:The number of unique transactions confirmed over the past 24 hours. To be confirmed, a transaction needs to be included in a validated block (a block that was successfully mined).
-Transaction Volume:A measure of the total value of outputs(in BTC) confirmed on the blockchain over the past 24 hours. Due to the way that Bitcoin works, this total also includes unspent outputs returned back to the “spending” wallet as change.
-Transaction Volume (estimated):An estimate (in BTC) of the actual transaction volume transferred between unique wallets. It’s the Transaction Volume (above) minus an estimate of the outputs returned as change to spending wallets.
-Mempool Size:The mempool size tracks the aggregate size (in bytes) of transactions that are waiting to be included in a block. It’s a proxy for the amount of activity on the blockchain and can serve as an indicator of the fees required for fast confirmation.
-Latest Blocks:A list of confirmed blocks, from newest to oldest. It includes details such as block height, timestamp, miner name (if known), and block size. You can click on “block height” to uncover information about transactions included in the block. Clicking on “miner” will reveal information about the address of the block’s miner. The public address of the miner may be a known mining pool address. If you don’t know what a mining pool is, check this article.
-Latest Transactions:A list of valid transactions which have been submitted to the mempool. Again, transactions are unconfirmed until they have been included in a validated block.
Closing thoughts
Blockchain explorers are useful tools that harness the open and transparent nature of public blockchains. They provide useful information about the state of the network, including transaction and address history. This allows for easy tracking and verification.
However, this emphasis on full public transparency can lead to mapping the history of transactions and addresses known as chain analysis. This can unmask the pseudonymous nature of the addresses, especially for users that tend to use the same addresses multiple times (not recommended). Other public blockchains strike a different balance between transparency and privacy.
Now that you have a rough understanding of how to create a blockchain explorer and what is a blockchain explorer, have a play with them yourself. You might be surprised by what secrets you uncover!
