A blockchain explorer is a browser for the blockchain, similar to how we have browsers for internet web pages like Mozilla or Google Chrome.
Blockchain explorers are used by all Bitcoin and altcoin users to follow their transactions.
However, only a small percentage of people are aware of these explorers’ full potential. These browsers provide a lot more information than just transaction tracking.
What Is A Block Explorer?
You may use a block explorer to look over the full blockchain of the platform you’re using.
However, you cannot use a block explorer for a blockchain that it was not designed for. A Bitcoin block explorer, for example, cannot trace Litecoin transactions.
For that, you’ll need a Litecoin block explorer… Now that we’ve cleared that up…
What Can You Do With A Block Explorer?
For the sake of explaining things, I will be talking about Bitcoin block explorers, but each blockchain interfaces and functions in the same way with its respective explorer.
1. Blocks Feed – Block explorers allow you to explore recently mined blocks on the Bitcoin blockchain. Typically all Bitcoin block explorers provide a live feed of all the blocks that are being added to the blockchain in real-time.
2. Transaction Feed – Block explorers allow you to explore any transaction in any block that has already been mined and is currently attached to the Bitcoin blockchain.
3.Transaction History Of A Specific Address — You can check the history of any public Bitcoin address and audit how many transactions it has received, its balance, and so on using a Bitcoin block explorer.
4.Bitcoin Receiving Address & Change Address – You can see the Bitcoin receiving address and the Bitcoin change address using a Bitcoin block explorer.
5.The Day’s Largest Transaction — Some block explorers keep track of the day’s largest Bitcoin transactions (like blockchain.info).
6.Mempool Status — You may check the status of mempool using a Bitcoin block explorer, which displays the total number of unconfirmed transactions as well as transaction information.
8. Double Spend Incidents – Some advanced block explorers also record how many double-spend Bitcoin transactions were done in the last 10 minutes.
Example Of Exploring A Public Bitcoin Address
There are many different Bitcoin block explorers available in the market. A simple Google search will pop up many of them.
For this example, I will be using blockchain.info, one of the most popular Bitcoin block explorers out there. Let’s examine this public Bitcoin address –1Eu7LUP2Ht2gs46JYyxg6W125T1bgtaJgm.