We all keep important receipts and checks for our records just to be sure all transactions were correct. But where are the receipts for cryptocurrency transactions?
Cryptocurrency is different from traditional money, where a third-party, such as a bank, confirms the transaction. With cryptocurrencies, the entire history of a cryptocurrency is stored on the blockchain, which records all transactions — and all the transactions can be seen.
Block explorer is a search engine, like Google, where you can see all the crypto transactions that have ever existed on a blockchain. Here, you can see a detailed record of each transaction, check the balance for each address, and more.
There are different types of block explorers supporting different types of blockchain networks. For instance, Etherscan provides the history of the Ethereum transactions, Blockchain.com is used for Bitcoin, and Solscan focuses on Solana.
Transaction history can be viewed easily.
You can use block explorer to check what you sent to whom, and when and how much they sent to you. Here, we’re giving you an example of Etherscan, the block explorer of Ethereum—the biggest blockchain network. Other block explorers, such as Solscan, are fundamentally the same.
By clicking on Etherscan, you will see a list of the latest Ethereum transactions. Blockchain users are identified by their wallet address. On Ethereum, it starts with 0x. If you see the image below, for instance, it shows that a user has sent Ether to Mutant Ape Yacht Club.
You can put your Ethereum wallet address on the search bar to check your transaction history. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin disclosed his personal ETH address in October 2018. If you want to check his transaction history, type 0xAb5801a7D398351b8bE11C439e05C5B3259aeC9B and see the results.
Block explorer is important because…
Well, you can see how people are getting richer than you.
But jokes aside, it’s an important tool to trace how much amount you received or sent. That means, if you ever fail to see the correct amount of Ether or Bitcoin in your wallet, you do not need to spend a whole lot of time trying to figure out what’s wrong. Take a look at the block explorer and see what happened to your money. If someone says they have sent you the tokens already, don’t refresh your wallet again and again – all you need to do is visit the block explorer and check.
In the crypto world, there is a famous saying, “Don’t trust, verify,” and that is exactly what block explorer does.