Become a Pro in Exploring Cryptocurrency, Using a Crypto explorer- Everything in a Single Read !
There are new cryptocurrencies that pop out now and then. People around the world are making transactions with them every day. And these are simply stored on the blockchain, making it open to all. So, a blockchain is something so huge that you can’t even think of.
But have you ever wondered how to look out for particular data on this HUGE blockchain?
Where can you find your cryptos being sent to and from on a blockchain?
These are some common questions that we have come across. And reading this article will let you get your answers!
Blockchain-In Brief!
A blockchain is a public ledger that can store all cryptocurrency information. But you must know that blockchain is not one huge chain of blocks. There are many blockchains specific to one particular crypto. That is, the transaction for one specific crypto is stored only on a particular blockchain. In simple words, you can find bitcoins and their transactions only in the bitcoin blockchain and not on an Ethereum blockchain!
We also know that a blockchain grows constantly and a new block is added to them continuously. But how will you know when a new block is added to a blockchain? You wake up to see a new block that you did not find last night? And, where can you find all these new blocks? Is there a way someone can fetch you this?
The one tool that can help you get cleared with all these questions, is a Crypto explorer. Just like the Internet Explorer, you can find a lot of specific information on a Crypto explorer which is an online tool. Hold on to know more!
Crypto Explorers Explained.
A crypto explorer also called a Blockchain explorer is an online tool that acts as a search engine. It is a search engine that enables you to find individual blocks and transactions of any cryptocurrency out of the whole lot. That is, you can simply log into a crypto explorer to check out a transaction or know about the new blocks that have been added recently.
Also, the crypto explorer lets you have an insight into transaction growth within a particular address and other detailed information.You will find a search engine, into where you have to type a wallet address or a transaction hash.
You need to use a blockchain explorer,
If you’d want to know the complete transaction history of a particular wallet, you can type the address on the search engine and there you get it all. All the transactions that happened to and from the wallet!
But if you’d like to know the details of a particular transaction, you need to type in the transaction hash, which is nothing but a code that gets generated for every transaction. Once you enter this, Boom! You are going to find all the details about the transaction, from the date to time and everything!
Imagine you’re making a transaction, that is you’re depositing some money to someone’s account from yours. And the person says that he hasn’t received the amount. In such cases, you can always log in to a blockchain explorer, type your transaction hash and verify if the transaction was successful!
To sum up, you can use a crypto explorer for
- Having a check on all your transactions that have been happening from and to your wallet.
- Look out for the status of a particular transaction made.
- Check out for successful and unsuccessful transactions.
- Know and explore new blocks added to a blockchain
- Checking for successful block generation, in case you’re a minor.
- Seeing how the crypto incentives are distributed among different people who mined a particular block.
- Make proof of your crypto transaction.
These are some of the cases where you might need a Blockchain explorer to make your journey easy.
An insight into some popular crypto explorers
While the applications of blockchain explorers are infinite, different crypto explorers are emerging. These explorers can be specific to single crypto and their blockchain or can support the access to several cryptos and their blockchains. Let’s dive in to know some of the popular explorers.
- Blockchair
The Blockchair is one of the most commonly used Crypto explorers. It is preferred by many investors for use because Blockchair is a search engine for almost sixteen different cryptos. Some of them are,
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- Ripple
- Litecoin
- Bitcoin cash
- Cardano Future and others!
The best thing about the Blockchair explorer is that you can look for information on these sixteen blockchains at a single place. Also, you can simply enter a public address of a bitcoin transaction and need not specify which blockchain to search for.
Instead block hair explorer will automatically understand that it has to look in for the transaction details on the bitcoin blockchain only. And you get your results in no time!
Another perk about using the Blockchair is that you can look in for a single or a complete transaction history. As already said before, you can either type in a wallet address or a transaction hash. Blockchair is one among the few explorers that will look in for both specific transactions and the complete transaction history of a wallet.
Here again, you need not mention if you’re typing a hash or a wallet address. This software will know by itself what you’re looking for! Among the users, blockchair is frequently used as a verification for their payments.
- Etherscan
The Etherscan is another popular blockchain explorer and a platform for analytics. But this software is for the Ethereum, which is a decentralised platform. Etherscan looks in for all the transactions that happen on the Ethereum blockchain only!
Ether is the native crypto currency of the Ethereum blockchain. After bitcoins, ethers have been the most popular cryptocurrency in use.
Ether scan is now frequently used by the users of the Ethereum network. It is a search engine that helps to look out for transactions and contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. You can find anything and everything that is topping the Ethereum blockchain on through Etherscan.
Etherscan helps you to find and verify the transaction history of a particular wallet address or a particular transaction. It is similar to that of the Blockchair explorer, but the only thing is that Etherscan runs these searches only on a Ethereum blockchain.
It acts as an online software that helps to filter out information that you’d need from so much of them on the Ethereum blockchain. On the Etherscan search engine, you can enter a wallet address or a transaction hash.
Etherscan can be used all for free. To get access to the important features, you need not even have to register on Etherscan.
Imagine you are a part of the Ethereum network want to look for your wallet details. You can start by entering your public address on the Etherscan’s search engine. And you can find the following information
- Your current balance(in ethers)
- Your ether value (in dollars)
- Entire transaction history of your wallet
- Analytics
- Comments
Or instead, if you have entered a transaction hash into the search engine, you will find
- Transaction status
- The block on which your transaction is stored
- Timestamp
- From wallet address
- To wallet address
- And also, the tokens you have transferred.
You can also look for the new blocks created in the entire Ethernet work, which keeps getting updated on Etherscan.
- Bscscan
The Bscscan is another popularly used crypto explorer, where the Bsc stands for Binance smart chain. It is independent online software that helps searches happen on the Binance smart chain.
Before seeing more, let’s know what binance is?
Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange where cryptos are usually traded. It is said to be one of the largest crypto exchanges.
Unlike Etherscan and Blockchair, you can find several information you’d need on the Bscscan explorer. Some of the important ones are,
- The Bscscan yield farming dashboard
Yield farming is the process by which you can generate new cryptos based on your existing holding. The dashboard will let you have an insight of current farming openings, that is you can find the current ways to generate cryptos.
- Daily transactions
Here you can find the number of Binance smart chain transactions that happened for the day. It is displayed in the form of a chart and you can also find the days with the highest or lowest transactions through this chart.
- Token tracker
You can find information about all the tokens on this token tracker. By using this, you can find tokens with the highest market value and pick them for buying! You can see detailed information regarding a particular token when the user updates about the same.
Apart from these you can find the latest blocks created and the transaction history for the past fourteen days using this explorer. You will also find the transaction details when you enter a particular hash. You can also look in for some information by entering the wallet address like how you did for Etherscan and Blockchair.
We’ve presented you only three of the popular blockchain explorers. These are the ones that are frequently used among crypto investors. Logging in through a crypto explorer can give you an insight of almost everything when you have the right address or hash. You can now use crypto explorers as proof for your payments as well.
Being a crypto investor it is a must to have a constant check on your transaction history to know what’s happening in your wallet, crypto explorers are going to help you with this too.
True that the Blockchain is so huge and nobody can even imagine how large it is. But now we hope that knowing about explorers can help you filter the information that you will need from this huge mass. Be it the transaction details or a newly generated block, you can now have each detail in your fingertips with these crypto explorers.