A crypto enthusiast’s arsenal wouldn’t be complete without block explorer tools. Read on to find out what exactly they do and why they are so important!
What Is A Block Explorer?
A block explorer is an online tool that enables users to find real-time and historical information about a specific cryptocurrency. This could mean retrieving data regarding the blocks, public addresses, transactions, mining pools, hard forks, and beyond.
What You Need To Know About Block Explorers
Typically, a block explorer contains data about a single blockchain. This means that if you need to find information on Bitcoin and Ethereum; you will have to use separate tools for that. However, some sites nowadays host block explorers for multiple blockchains.
Keep in mind that the details featured by a block explorer may differ depending on the blockchain’s architecture. For instance, a block explorer for a Proof-of-Work (PoW) network will have information about miners, whereas a tool designed for a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) blockchain is likely to display data about block producers and elections.
Most traders use a block explorer to track the status of their transactions. Yet, there are also other ways to implement this tool. For instance, miners use it to check if they’ve successfully mined a block, while other users implement it to find out technical information about the network, such as hash rate, market data, block difficulty, etc.
What’s more, as the blockchain explorer definition suggests, this tool can also provide information about wallet addresses, including the data on the funds that were sent and received and the total value held.
This functionality enables traders to follow whale addresses and monitor the movement of big crypto sums. Notably, some crypto community members also like to track the addresses that reportedly belong to Satoshi Nakamoto.
