The Blockchain as a public environment
Accessing the public ledgers of the blockchain can be done through blockchain explorers. They are web-based tools that allow users to navigate and view details of transactions and blocks on a particular blockchain network. They serve as windows into the blockchain’s public landscape, providing users with the ability to track the activity of a blockchain in real-time. Here, we will take a deeper dive into some of the uses of blockchain explorers for the various needs of their potential visitors.
For a general user, blockchain explorers are invaluable in verifying the status of transactions. For instance, after making a cryptocurrency transfer, the user can input a transaction ID (TxID) into an explorer to see if the transaction has been confirmed and this helps verify if it has been successfully processed and included in a block by the network’s miners or validators.
For an analyst, blockchain explorers offer a wealth of information for deeper insights into the network’s operation. They provide details like the number of confirmations a transaction has, the specific block that includes the transaction, and even the gas fees or transaction fees paid. These explorers also give visibility into network health, showing metrics like block times, hash rates (for proof-of-work blockchains), and validator activity in proof-of-stake systems.
Wallet address: An open window to your finances
Blockchain explorers can show the current balance of a public address, allowing users to audit their own or someone else's holdings since all transactions on most blockchains are transparent. They allow an analyst to see the full history of any public wallet address, which helps in tracking the movement of funds and identifying trends in user behavior. Analysts can trace patterns of large movements, whales (large holders) moving funds, or suspicious activities that could indicate money laundering or other illicit activities.
Additionally, blockchain explorers often provide network statistics, such as transaction volume, block heights, mining difficulty, and average fees over time, which are crucial for gauging the performance and scalability of the blockchain.
For developers and validators, blockchain explorers also provide debugging tools. They allow inspection of contract addresses, smart contract code, and execution data on platforms like Ethereum. This helps developers ensure that smart contracts are working as expected and aids in troubleshooting failed or delayed transactions.
Blockchain explorers act as multi-functional tools, offering transparency and insight for users at all levels, from casual users verifying a transaction to analysts and developers monitoring network health and security.
Most popular Blockchain Explorers
Etherscan is the most popular explorer for Ethereum, enabling users to track transactions, addresses, smart contracts, and tokens on the Ethereum network.
Blockchain.com Explorer, originally built for Bitcoin, now supports Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash, offering a trusted and reliable platform for these networks. For the BNB Smart Chain (BSC), BscScan is a widely used explorer, developed by the same team behind Etherscan, providing transaction tracking and smart contract analysis. The Solana network is best explored through Solscan, which offers transaction tracking, account monitoring, and insights into tokens and NFTs. Similarly, Polygonscan serves the Polygon (Matic) network, providing tools for exploring transactions, tokens, and contracts, also developed by the Etherscan team.
The below images take you to the Etherscan and Blockscout block explorers for the wallet of ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin where you can see how each page is presented and the information that is publicly available.
For the Avalanche (AVAX) blockchain, SnowTrace is the primary explorer, allowing users to explore transactions and smart contracts. Tronscan is the official explorer for the TRON network, offering a similar set of tools for tracking transactions and tokens.
Multi-chain explorers like Blockchair allow users to explore multiple blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others, in a unified interface. Finally, Blockcypher offers blockchain explorers for a range of networks, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, and Dash, with a focus on providing data and developer-friendly APIs. Each of these explorers is tailored to its respective blockchain, offering unique insights into transactions and smart contracts depending on the network.
Blockchain Explorer Aggregators
Blockchain explorer aggregators are platforms that compile and organize data from multiple blockchain explorers into a unified interface. They provide users with the ability to search, track, and analyze on-chain data across various blockchains. Blockchain explorers, individually, allow users to access information about transactions, wallet balances, smart contracts, and blocks for a specific blockchain (like Ethereum, Bitcoin, or BSC). Aggregators take this a step further by bringing together data from multiple blockchains into a single, comprehensive platform, offering a more holistic view of blockchain activities.
These aggregators serve several important functions:
1. Cross-Chain Tracking: Instead of users needing to visit separate explorers for different blockchains, an aggregator pulls data from multiple chains, allowing users to search for transactions, addresses, or tokens across various ecosystems from one place. For example, a user can look up transactions on Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) blockchains without switching tools.
2. Advanced Analytics: Aggregators often provide deeper insights and analytics than basic blockchain explorers. They might offer visual representations of transaction flows, network health metrics, or wallet behavior patterns. These analytics help users to understand more complex blockchain activities or trends that might be harder to decipher on a typical explorer.
3. Portfolio Management: Some blockchain explorer aggregators also integrate portfolio tracking features, enabling users to monitor their assets across multiple blockchains. They can check token balances, staking rewards, or NFT holdings across different addresses and networks.
4. Address Monitoring and Notifications: Aggregators allow users to set up alerts for specific addresses or transactions, which is useful for traders, analysts, or developers monitoring key accounts, smart contract interactions, or large transfers across multiple networks.
In essence, blockchain explorer aggregators make it easier to access, track, and analyze on-chain data from multiple blockchains in one consolidated interface, simplifying the user experience and enhancing the ability to interpret blockchain data at a macro level.
Debank and Arkham are two popular blockchain aggregators that provide a wide range of tools and features for users to analyze and monitor activities across decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain ecosystems. Each of these platforms has its distinct focus and utility, but both aim to make blockchain data more accessible and actionable for users, whether they are retail investors, institutional players, or developers.
Debank is a DeFi and crypto portfolio tracker that aggregates data from numerous decentralized platforms, wallets, and protocols into a single interface. It allows users to track the value of their assets across multiple blockchains like Ethereum, BSC, and others. Debank provides detailed analytics on liquidity pools, staking positions, lending, borrowing activities, and token holdings. Users can view their entire DeFi portfolio in one place without needing to switch between multiple applications or wallets.
One of the primary features of Debank is its ability to show historical performance, enabling users to track changes in their net worth, yields from liquidity providing, and even gas fees spent over time. For example, a user who holds assets in multiple DeFi protocols like Aave and Compound on Ethereum and PancakeSwap on BSC can use Debank to consolidate all this information into one dashboard. This gives a clearer picture of overall investment performance and risk exposure.
Arkham, on the other hand, is a blockchain intelligence platform designed to provide deeper insights into on-chain activities, often for investigative purposes. It specializes in de-anonymizing blockchain addresses and revealing patterns of behavior across wallets, contracts, and other blockchain entities. Arkham uses data visualization tools to trace transactions, showing how funds flow between wallets and across different protocols. It is especially valuable for those looking to analyze whale movements, suspicious activities, or major market events that are reflected in blockchain transactions. For example, Arkham can be used to monitor large token movements from high-profile wallets, providing insights into potential market swings. Traders or analysts might use Arkham to track the selling or buying behavior of institutional players or "whales" and adjust their strategies accordingly. If a large address moves significant amounts of a token into an exchange wallet, it might signal a potential dump, and this insight could help traders act preemptively.
Conclusion
Transparency is the keyword when it comes to understanding how the crypto world works for its users. Sharing personal bank statements or financial activity is likely to be perceived as risky or dangerous at the very least in the conventional banking world, since it would need to be supported either by an official investigation, or by becoming a victim of a hack/scam. Not in the crypto world (blockchain).
For blockchains, information is available for users to grab and interpret in different ways and for multiple purposes, most of them business related. But just like every other activity that involves any type of money exchange between actors either in a physical or digital format, staying safe from the bad guys is an everyday task.
Knowing the tools to gather, handle and interpret information from wallet addresses in the blockchain such as Blockchain Explorers and/or Aggregators can open a variety of possibilities to both grow as a strategic crypto user and to stay safe while at it.
Original article by the zeroShadow team
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