What is Etherscan?

In order to analyze the transactions made and other publicly available blockchain data, it is not necessary to have specific technical skills. Anyone can do it with the help of special platforms that provide blockchain tracking functions. One such platform is Etherscan. An independent team of developers created it to research the Ethereum network in 2015.

The site etherscan.io is called a “blockchain explorer”. The main functionality resembles a search engine, which can be used to easily find and check transactions, smart contracts, blocks, tokens, and other components of the chain.

Since the Ethereum blockchain is publicly accessible, Etherscan makes interaction with the distributed ledger even more transparent by providing comprehensive information verification. The service can be used without prior registration and private keys, but the full range of services is only available if you have an account.

Thanks to the platform, the network maintains enhanced security, as the user can use it to record suspicious activity. Due to its wide range of additional features, Etherscan can also be used as a guide for exploring blockchain. 

Ways to use Etherscan

Depending on your goal, the service can be used in different ways. First and foremost, it helps you check the transaction of ETH, ERC-20, ERC-721, and ERC-1155 standard tokens. Just enter the transaction address, hash, or ENS domain name into the search bar at etherscan.io and go to the detailed information page. There you can see the status, execution time, check the block and contract of the transaction, the volume, and the gas fee. In the same way, you can get data about the ETH cryptocurrency wallet and smart contracts.

For example, information about a cryptocurrency wallet includes its balance, the types and number of tokens it contains, the history of transactions performed. If you click on the “analytics” tab, you can see transaction costs, which are presented in the form of diagrams and charts.

In addition, ERC20 transactions on the Ethereum blockchain can be tracked using the Etherscan Address Tracker app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It supports multiple accounts and periodic notifications.

A popular section of etherscan.io is Ethereum Gas Tracker. It allows you to track the maximum and minimum payments for gas in the last seven days, as well as to see gas on different platforms in real-time. In this way, the user can calculate transaction costs and decide whether they are justified.

The “watchlist” feature is also helpful. The verified customer can add the addresses s/he needs to this list to facilitate monitoring and tracking. When transactions come in, s/he is notified by email.

Finally, Etherscan is convenient to use as an aggregator of data about the state of the distributed ledger and its tokens. The “resources” section, filled with many metrics and statistics for blockchain analysis, is responsible for this. It displays a chart of ETH's value, capitalization, circulation of coins on the market, and many other chart elements. There is also a “tokens” section with up-to-date information about coins of commonly used Ethereum standards. 

Additional Etherscan features

Besides all of the above, the service offers a toolkit for developers – Etherscan APIs. Developers can request access to a wide range of APIs whose data can be used to create their own blockchain applications.

Etherscan also allows knowing the amount of liquidity of an asset to determine whether a fraudulent scheme is being used since there have been cases when people bought tokens with blocked liquidity and then could not sell them. Most importantly, the platform helps clarify the number of tokens held by the team behind its development and the users.

 A bonus for many will be the fact that Etherscan tracks the airdrops that are happening on the Ethereum blockchain. Airdrops are free token distributions that are common at the start of a project. They are an excellent option for those who want to get a novelty without risking personal funds.

You probably won’t find another think tank offering as much in-depth information about blockchain as Etherscan. It is a full-fledged platform for researching the Ethereum network and all the processes that run on it, with lots of functions and statistics. It is an invaluable resource for the crypto community and ETH supporters.