What is a block explorer?

You sent crypto and the recipient says it never arrived? A block explorer, or blockchain explorer, is where you can look up what the network has actually recorded, instead of relying only on what your wallet shows.

Think of tracking a parcel with its tracking number. In crypto, you use the transaction ID (TXID): you paste it into the search bar and see whether the transaction is pending, whether it has been included in a block and what fees it paid. Depending on the network, you can also see confirmations and whether execution succeeded or failed.

The explorer pulls data from the network’s nodes and organizes it into easy-to-read pages. You can look up a public address, a specific block or a smart contract. Etherscan is a well-known example for Ethereum. For other networks, you use an explorer that supports them.

Why it matters

For us, its main value is that it gives you a way to check what happened, without having to settle for a screenshot. You can compare the amount, the recipient address and the network of a transfer. If you sent funds to an exchange, being recorded on the blockchain doesn’t necessarily mean the exchange has already credited them to your account.

On networks that support tokens, you can also see transfers and the token’s contract address. This helps you tell apart tokens with the same name or ticker. A token appearing in an explorer is not an endorsement of its trustworthiness.

What to watch out for

For a simple lookup you don’t need to connect a wallet or enter your seed phrase (recovery phrase) or private key. Watch out for copycats of well-known sites and for spam tokens that contain misleading links.

An explorer displays data; it doesn’t cancel transactions or recover lost funds. Also, a public address doesn’t by itself reveal the real name of its owner, and any identification labels may be incomplete or wrong.