Submitted by Community – Author: John Ma
TL;DR
Public transparency is a key concept in cryptocurrencies. One of the great promises of blockchain is that it levels the playing field by not limiting information to a set of people in a privileged position of control.
However, what does this statement actually mean? Can you find out how much bitcoin your neighbor has? How can you view and verify public data yourself? That's what we'll show you in this article. Note that we focused on Bitcoin, but you can also find dedicated blockchain explorers for Litecoin, Ethereum, Binance, and most any native blockchain.
Introduction
Have you ever missed a payment or know someone who swears they've paid you when they haven't? In our current financial system, this can lead to a “throwing hands” situation or may require third party intervention.
Blockchain solves this problem by introducing the concept of public transparency with information ready to be seen by anyone at any time. For blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum, all information is designed to be publicly visible which is useful when transactions (or Txs) and contracts need to be easily identified and verified.
In this guide, we will look at the basic layout of a Bitcoin block explorer. Then, we'll look at the famous transaction that popularized Bitcoin Pizza Day on May 22.
What is a blockchain explorer?
A blockchain explorer is like a search engine that reveals information regarding the past and current state of the blockchain. This can be useful when you want to track the progress of a particular payment or check the balance and history of an address. Anyone with an Internet connection can use explorer to view all public blockchain transactions.
How do block explorers work?
Each blockchain will have a Command Line Interface (CLI) to interact with the database and view network history. However, the CLI explorer is not a user-friendly experience for the general public. That's the reason most blockchains will also have an explorer with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that will display information in a format that is easier to understand.
Let's explore one of the frequently used Bitcoin explorers: blockchain.com. Other alternatives to BTC include blockchair.com and blockcypher.com.
Source: https://www.blockchain.com/explorer.
On the front page, you can see some high-level data regarding the Bitcoin blockchain. This includes price, estimated hash rate, number of daily transactions, and transaction volume. We can also see a diagram that maps price and mempool size. At the bottom, we can monitor recent blocks and transactions.
Let's discuss what we can see here in a little more detail:
Price: Enter the overall USD price across multiple markets. In most cases, prices depend on the input provider and do not reflect the spot price on a particular exchange.
Estimated Hash Rate: Estimated computing power currently applied by miners to secure the blockchain. This value can be considered to represent the security of a Proof of Work (PoW) blockchain.
Transactions: Number of unique transactions confirmed in the last 24 hours. In order to be confirmed, a transaction must be included in a validated block (a block that was successfully mined).
Transaction Volume: A measure of the total output value (in BTC) confirmed on the blockchain over the last 24 hours. Based on how Bitcoin works, this total also includes unspent output that is returned to the “spending” wallet as change.
Transaction Volume (estimated): An estimate (in BTC) of the actual transaction volume transferred between unique wallets. The value is obtained from the Transaction Volume (above) minus the estimated output returned as change to the shopping wallet.
Mempool Size: The mempool size tracks the overall size (in bytes) of transactions waiting to be included in a block. This value represents the amount of activity on that blockchain and can serve as an indicator of the costs required for fast confirmation.
Latest Blocks: List of confirmed blocks from most recent to oldest. This list includes details such as block order, timestamp, miner name (if known), and block size. You can click on “block order” to reveal information about the transactions included in that block. Clicking on “miner” will reveal information about the block miner's address. The public address of the miner can be the address of a known mining pool. If you don't know pool mining, read this article.
Recent Transactions: List of valid transactions that have been sent to the mempool. Again, transactions are not confirmed before being included in a validated block.
There are additional metrics about the blockchain that you can track on this page, including network difficulty, cost per transaction, and average confirmation time. Some blockchain explorers will also allow you to connect to their API.
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How to view 10,000 bitcoin pizza transactions
Pizza Day is an auspicious day in Bitcoin history that commemorates the purchase of two large pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins. Using our block explorer, we can view and explore details regarding these well-known transactions.
Pizza Day Transaction Hash:
a1075db55d416d3ca199f55b6084e2115b9345e16c5cf302fc80e9d5fbf5d48dCopying the transaction hash into the Bitcoin blockchain explorer search field will lead us to the Pizza Day transaction. If you don't want to copy-paste the details, here is a link to the transaction page.
At the top of the page, you can see a summary of transaction input and output. The left side is the bitcoins paid for the pizza (total 10,000 BTC). These Bitcoins are sent to one address on the right side (owned by the pizza sender).
Pizza Day transaction summary. Source: blockchain.com
If you click on the recipient's address (on the right side), you will see their transaction history. You can also scan the QR code to get the corresponding address string. QR codes are very useful when making payments with TrustWallet or other mobile crypto wallets.
Pizza Day recipient address. Source: blockchain.com.
If you go back to the original Pizza Day deals page, you can scroll down to check the deal details. These details include the unique hash for the transaction, confirmation status, timestamp, number of confirmations, total input and output, miner fees and more. You can see that there is a transaction fee of 0.99 BTC paid to the miner in addition to the 10,000 BTC for the pizza.
Pizza Day transaction details. Source: blockchain.com.
Clicking on the block sequence number (57,043) will provide details about the block that includes this transaction.
Pizza Day Block. Source: blockchain.com.
As you can see, the block that confirms the Pizza Day transaction is a block with few events. There are a total of two transactions, one is the Pizza Day transaction and the other is the miner block reward.
The green and red globes on the right side indicate whether bitcoins were spent or not after this transaction. The person selling the pizza has sent the 10,000 BTC to another address, but the miner's address still has the block reward (50.99 BTC).
Closing
Blockchain explorer is a useful tool that takes advantage of the open and transparent nature of public blockchains. This tool provides useful information about the state of the network, including transaction history and addresses. This allows easy tracking and verification.
However, the emphasis on full general transparency can lead to the mapping of transaction history and addresses known as chain analysis. This can reveal the nature of disguised addresses, especially for users who tend to use the same address multiple times (not recommended). Other public blockchains (such as Monero) strike a different balance between transparency and privacy.
After understanding how blockchain explorer works fundamentally, implement this tool yourself. You may be surprised at the secrets that can be uncovered!
Have more questions about Bitcoin and crypto explorer? Visit our question and answer platform, Ask Academy, where the community will answer your questions.