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What Is a Blockchain Explorer, and How Do You Use It?

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Ihssan El Medkouri

Author

Ihssan El Medkouri

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Ihssan is a dedicated Content Editor at Cryptonews, where she excels in producing well-researched, insightful content. She has made notable contributions to the cryptocurrency industry, including...

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Last updated:

March 18, 2025

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A blockchain explorer is a tool that gives you a window into a blockchain’s activity. From tracking transactions to viewing blocks, wallet addresses, and network metrics, blockchain explorers make blockchain networks transparent and accessible. These explorers let you see exactly what’s happening on the blockchain — down to the second a transaction is confirmed.

Key Takeaways

It enhances the transparency of blockchain networks, enabling users to verify transactions and monitor activity.
Explorers retrieve real-time data from blockchain nodes and organize it into a user-friendly interface.
Users can track transaction statuses, wallet balances, and network health metrics.
While transactions are publicly visible, identities remain pseudonymous, emphasizing the importance of securing private keys.
Selecting the right blockchain explorer can significantly improve your experience by offering specific features tailored to your needs.

How Blockchain Explorers Work

Blockchain explorers connect directly to blockchain nodes, retrieving and organizing raw data into an accessible, easy-to-navigate format for users. They gather real-time data from these nodes, including transaction details, block information, and wallet activities, ensuring you can view the latest blockchain activity unfolding.

Once the data is retrieved, it’s processed and formatted into a readable structure. This transformation organizes complex blockchain data — such as transaction IDs and block heights — into user-friendly visuals, making the technology approachable for those without technical knowledge.

The explorer’s user interface provides a search function. By entering a search term, you can look up specific transaction IDs, wallet addresses, or block numbers. This lets you get an in-depth view of relevant blockchain data in seconds.

Blockchain explorers synchronize with the blockchain network in real time to stay accurate. This synchronization keeps information up to date, allowing you to monitor transaction status, wallet balances, and other dynamic metrics as they happen.

Key Functions and Use Cases of Blockchain Explorers

Blockchain explorers offer various features that serve casual users and in-depth researchers. Below are some of the primary functions and use cases.

Transaction Tracking

Blockchain explorers enable you to monitor the status of individual transactions, showing whether they’re confirmed, pending, or failed. For example, you can use Etherscan, an Ethereum blockchain explorer, to track the confirmation status of an Ethereum transaction.

Transaction Tracking etherscan

Wallet Monitoring

You can view any public wallet address’s balances and transaction history, which is useful for monitoring personal wallets or verifying fund transfers. For example, you can check your Bitcoin wallet’s balance and transaction history on Blockchain.com.

Block Exploration

Blockchain explorers allow you to explore recently mined blocks and view details like block height, transaction count, and timestamps. For instance, Solana’s SolScan lets you explore block information on the Solana network.

Network Health Metrics

Blockchain explorers provide metrics for developers and researchers, such as network hash rates, block difficulty, mempool size, and transaction volumes. These metrics reveal a blockchain’s health and performance.

Whale Activity and On-Chain Analysis

Explorers track large transactions or “whale” activity, which can offer insights into potential market shifts. For example, you can use a blockchain explorer to monitor large USDT transactions and analyze market trends based on the movements of large wallet holders.

Popular Blockchain Explorers by Network

Different blockchain networks have their own dedicated explorers, each designed to provide insights specific to the network’s unique structure, transaction types, and user needs. Here’s an overview of popular explorers by network, highlighting their key features and functionalities.

Ethereum Blockchain Explorer (Etherscan)

Etherscan is a powerful tool for exploring the Ethereum network. It provides features for tracking token transfers, smart contract interactions, and gas fees. You can monitor transfers for tokens like ERC-20 and ERC-721 (NFTs) and interact directly with smart contracts by reading and writing data.

Etherscan also offers a comprehensive view of gas fees, helping you optimize transaction costs. For developers, Etherscan provides API access for building Ethereum-based applications and real-time monitoring of blockchain data.

Bitcoin Blockchain Explorer (Blockchain.com)

Blockchain.com is the main explorer of the Bitcoin network. It is known for its focus on wallet balances, transaction confirmations, and block details.

Given Bitcoin’s structure, confirming transaction status is critical, and Blockchain.com enables you to track confirmations in real time. This explorer also allows you to view balances for public wallets, review past transactions, and access data on newly mined blocks and historical block information.

Solana Blockchain Explorer (SolScan)

SolScan provides a dedicated view of the Solana network, highlighting its high throughput and speed. This explorer captures real-time transaction data aligned with Solana’s high transaction speeds, allowing you to track transactions instantly and access detailed insights on block and network activity.

Unique to Solana, SolScan offers features for monitoring Solana-native tokens and interactions with decentralized applications (dApps), making it a comprehensive tool for both basic and advanced users.

Litecoin Blockchain Explorer (Blockchair)

Blockchair is widely used for Litecoin transactions. It offers a straightforward experience focused on tracking fast confirmations and low transaction fees. Blockchair simplifies the Litecoin tracking process and provides insights into transaction fees, block details, and wallet activities.

With additional filtering options, you can view specific Litecoin blocks, addresses, and even transaction types, enhancing its functionality for Litecoin holders.

USDT Blockchain Explorer

Since Tether (USDT) is issued on multiple blockchains, different explorers are used depending on the network. Here’s a breakdown of the main explorers for tracking USDT across various chains:

Ethereum: Etherscan for ERC-20 USDT
Tron: TronScan for TRC-20 USDT
Bitcoin (Omni Layer): OmniExplorer for Omni-based USDT
Solana: SolScan for SPL USDT

Security and Privacy With Blockchain Explorers

Blockchain explorers provide safe, publicly accessible information on blockchain networks without compromising private keys or personal user data. While wallet addresses are visible, private keys remain confidential, as explorers only display public blockchain information.

To ensure safety, you should follow the best security practices for storing private keys offline and never sharing them. In terms of transparency, blockchain explorers offer public visibility into transactions, block details, and wallet balances.

However, identities remain pseudonymous, meaning anyone can view address activities without direct personal association unless the wallet owner discloses it. This balance between transparency and privacy is core to blockchain’s design, providing public accountability while maintaining user anonymity.

Choosing the Best Blockchain Explorer

Selecting the right blockchain explorer is essential for users who require specific features or work across multiple networks. Here are key factors to consider:

Supported Blockchains

Ensure the explorer supports the blockchain you’re interested in, whether Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana. Some explorers, like Blockchair, provide access to multiple blockchains, making them versatile options.

Features

Look for features like real-time updates, advanced search functionality, and developer-friendly APIs. Etherscan, for example, is popular for Ethereum because of its comprehensive transaction data and smart contract tools.

User Interface and Ease of Use

A clean, intuitive interface is invaluable for navigating data quickly and efficiently, especially for beginners.

Reliability and Performance

A good explorer should provide consistent performance, fast access to data, and minimal downtime. Reliable explorers ensure uninterrupted access to transaction information.

How to Use a Blockchain Explorer

Using a blockchain explorer is straightforward and allows anyone to access detailed blockchain data.
We’ll use Etherscan as an example to show you how to use a blockchain explorer. Etherscan makes navigating and verifying activity on the Ethereum network simple, offering an easy way to explore blockchain data firsthand.

Basic Search Functionality

To look up data on a blockchain explorer, you can search by transaction ID, wallet address, or block height. Entering a transaction ID reveals details like confirmation status and sender and receiver addresses.

A wallet address search displays the wallet’s balance and transaction history, while block height provides information about specific blocks, such as when they were mined and their contents. Etherscan’s search bar makes accessing these details simple and intuitive, offering real-time insights into Ethereum’s blockchain.

Tracking a Transaction

To track an Ethereum transaction on Etherscan, enter the transaction hash in the search bar. This reveals detailed information, including the transaction’s confirmation status, gas fees, sender and recipient addresses, and the exact time it was processed.

Etherscan’s clear layout makes it easy to follow a transaction’s progress and verify its successful completion on the Ethereum network.

Using Additional Features

Blockchain explorers offer advanced features beyond basic transaction tracking. You can visualize token movements across crypto wallets, following the flow of ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens to understand ownership changes and transaction histories.

Another powerful tool is monitoring smart contracts, where users can interact with and verify contract code, check for active functions, and even read or write data to smart contracts on Ethereum.

Finding Unconfirmed Transactions

Sometimes, transactions don’t go through immediately or fail altogether, which can be due to factors like low gas fees or high network congestion. Fortunately, Etherscan makes it easy to check on the status of any Ethereum transaction. Below are the steps to quickly locate and understand unconfirmed or failed transactions.

Search for Your Transaction: Enter the transaction hash (TxHash) in the search bar.
Review Transaction Details: Click search, and you’ll be directed to a page with detailed information on your transaction. Look at the Status field to see if it’s pending, confirmed, or failed, along with other details like gas price and nonce.
Identify Pending Transactions: If the status is “Pending,” it means the transaction hasn’t been processed yet, possibly due to low gas fees or network congestion. Check for time elapsed since initiation or if other transactions from the same wallet are being processed.
Check for Failed Transactions: For failed transactions, Etherscan will indicate the failure in the Status section, often including a reason for failure, which can provide insights into what went wrong.

Final Thoughts on Blockchain Explorers

Blockchain explorers are essential tools for maintaining transparency and accessibility in the blockchain ecosystem. They enable you to verify transactions, monitor wallet activity, and gain insights into network health with little technical expertise. This open access fosters trust in the decentralized nature of blockchain, making it easier for you to understand and engage with various networks.

For anyone involved in crypto, using blockchain explorers is invaluable. Exploring these tools can deepen your understanding of blockchain’s transparent nature and the underlying technology that drives it. Understanding Bitcoin blocks will give you insights into how blockchain explorers organize and present data, helping you navigate and analyze blockchain networks more effectively.

👉 Learn More: What are Bitcoin Blocks?