Ethereum Blockchain Explorer Explained

The popularity of blockchain technology continues to increase, with more users jumping on the bandwagon and developers creating dApps. With that additional traffic comes increased transactions and activity.

One of the promises of blockchain technology is anonymity and security but complete traceability. By traceability, we mean the ability to see every action that takes place. Ethereum is one of the most used blockchains, and to ensure everything is visible, Ethereum blockchain explorers were created.

In this article, we’ll help you understand what an Eth blockchain explorer is, what they do, why we need them, and the data they access, and we’ll introduce you to a couple of the most used platforms.

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What Is Ethereum Blockchain Explorer?

An Ethereum block explorer enables anyone to view real-time data about blocks, transactions, accounts, and other types of data – it’s an interactive portal for all things Ethereum.

Once you’ve learned the basics of Ethereum and the data each block collects, you’ll be able to delve into the daily ongoing of the blockchain, creating an ecosystem operating on complete transparency.

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Why Do We Need The Eth Block Explorer?

Block explorers are fundamental to the core principles of blockchain and defi technology. To uphold the principles of transparency and traceability, everyone in the world has to have the ability to analyze the data on any blockchain.

Thanks to tools such as an Eth blockchain explorer, it’s possible to see every action, from the smallest transaction to crypto wales moving around huge sums of money.

Think of these block explorers as search engines. Once you know your way around, they’re easy to use, and you can uncover any information you’re looking for if used correctly.

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What Does An Eth Blockchain Explorer Do?

The functionality an Eth block explorer offers is lengthy and impressive. Here is a non-exhaustive list of the actions a user could take when using one.

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• Review transaction details, including gas fees, transaction amount, hash rate, and much more.
• Review the entire history of any wallet address.
• Find the largest transaction to have recently occurred.
• Discover wallet addresses for senders and recipients.
• Identify the person or pool responsible for creating each individual block.
• Following the path of hacked, stolen, or scammed funds.

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What Data Does Ethereum Block Explorer Access?

Blocks

Around every 12 seconds, a new block is added to the Ethereum blockchain, meaning the ability to analyze them in real time is crucial. With an Ethereum block explorer, you can dive into the contents of each block very easily. What you’ll uncover when you do this is:

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• Block height
• Number of and time of transactions
• Miner’s wallet addresses
• The size of the block and the difficulty of mining it
• The amount miners receive as a reward
• How many units of gas were needed

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Uncle Blocks

Uncle blocks are created when two miners validate and add a block simultaneously. However, only one of these blocks will be added to the blockchain with a parent block – the other becomes an uncle block. When this happens, each miner that validates the block receives an equal portion of the reward.

Eth block explorers allow us to tap into all the data inside an uncle block including:

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• The validator rewards.
• The time the uncle block validation was completed.
• The address of the miner.
• Uncle block number.
• The height of the uncle block and where it was created.

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Accounts (Wallets)

Unsurprisingly, based on what you’ve already learned, it’s relatively easy to look into the activity of a specific blockchain address or wallet. The majority of projects make their wallet addresses public, allowing potential investors, journalists, and crypto enthusiasts to monitor how they spend their funds to ensure they are legitimate and honest.

Some of the information available to Eth block explorer uses includes:

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• Wallet addresses.
• The value of ETH held in the account.
• A complete transaction history.
• Tokens held and their value.

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Gas

Gas can be a complicated phenomenon when it comes to blockchain transactions. The great thing about an Eth explorer is it enables you to uncover exactly what they are, how they’re used, and how much was consumed. Overall, the information you can see includes:

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• Average gas fee vs. confirmation time.
• The estimated amount of gas required per transaction.
• Active contracts consuming gas

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Ethereum Explorer Examples

Etherscan

Etherscan was the first Eth block explorer and is still considered the best. Its comprehensive list of tokens means it boasts a large user base.

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Ethplorer

Newer to the party, Ethplorer offers an exciting feature that cross-references the value of Eth to USD.

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Ethstats

This emerging Eth blockchain explorer offers an interesting and exciting user interface. It takes some getting used to, but it presents data in a unique and innovative way.

In Summary

Ethereum blockchain explorers are integral to the transparency of the Ethereum blockchain. They enable anyone, anywhere, to monitor, analyze and understand exactly what is occurring on Ethereum in real time.

While they can be daunting to get to grips with, once you've established how they work and how best to utilize them, you’ll be able to uncover a plethora of insightful data.