What is Etherscan?

Etherscan is an important tool designed to search for information about transactions on Ethereum.

The block explorer is one of the most important tools for browsing blockchain data and information, simply put, it is a search tool like Google browse. The difference is that we type in keywords in Google Chrome, while in block explorer, we type in a transaction ID, contract address, wallet address, or block hash.

When we input different parameters, the blockchain browser will give us different information, for example: when we query a transaction ID, we will get specific transaction details, such as transaction fee, address of both sides of the transaction, block height, and so on; when we query the contract address of a specific coin, we will get coin details, such as contract code, coin parameters, coin holding address parameters, and so on.

Source: Etherscan Source: https://etherscan.io/

In addition to Etherscan, multiple public chains are active in the market at the same time, and each public chain has its own algorithm and ecosystem, which leads to the initial block explorer being designed primarily to support single public chain information searching, so each public chain has its own block explorer. Meanwhile, as technology progressed, the block explorer gradually evolved from a single-currency block explorer to a browser that integrates multi-currency information search, allowing users to search multiple public chain information at the same time.

Common block explorer and multi-currency block explorer at a glance.

Thanks to the open and transparent nature of the blockchain browser, which is an important tool we must learn in the blockchain field, we can quickly access the on-chain information we need to know. In this article, we will take Etherscan as an example to explain how the block explorer works and how to use it for each on-chain searching activity.

What is Etherscan?

Etherscan is a block explorer that allows you to view public transaction data, interact with smart contracts, and view address information in the Etherscan blockchain. Because the native data presentation on the Ethereum blockchain is mostly in the form of code, which is difficult for the average person to query and read, a block explorer like Etherscan was developed to enhance the user experience and enable users to seamlessly search and approve the authorization on the Ethereum blockchain and view all related activities including tokens, smart contracts, and wallet addresses by searching on-chain data.

Etherscan can be used as a blockchain information source and smart contracts database. We can use it for the following purposes:

• Check wallet transaction data (including transaction progress, transaction count, transaction object, transaction amount, transaction time, etc.)
• View block information (including Block Height, transactions contained in the block, contract information, etc.)
• View coin contract information (including coin issuance time, total amount, currency-holding address details, contract code, etc.)
• Check gas fee information (including real-time gas fee, past fluctuation data, projects that consumed gas fee and their total consumption, etc.)
• Search ENS domain information
• Search, read and use smart contracts that are running on the Ethereum chain
• Checking the projects authorized by your own wallet addresses and revoke authorization and other operations

It is worth noting that all of the above data is available for free and that users are not required to pay anything. Etherscan block explorer displays the corresponding Ethereum on-chain data in a very simple and user-friendly manner.

Mastering Block Explorer Terms quickly

To learn Etherscan with half the effort, we must first understand the terms commonly used in block explorer:

Block explorer terms：

• Block Hash

  Unique parameter value representing a block

• Txn Hash

  Unique parameter value representing a particular transaction

• Tx/Txns

  Refers to transactions and transaction collections on chain

• Pending Txns

  Refers to a group of ongoing transactions

• contract internal transactions

  Refers to transactions within a contract

• Bk/Block

  Refers to a block on the chain

• Block Height

  Refers to the block height, usually followed by a string of numbers, such as Block Height 15888669

• Size

  Refers to the size of the block, not a fixed value, varies with the number of transactions and contracts carried by the block

• Balance

  Refers to the number of Tokens held by a change of address

• Gas

  The cost for the Ethereum transaction, usually measured in Gwei, is 1ETH = 10**9 GWei

• Fee

  A total amount paid by the user for the transaction/block

• Timestamp

  Accurate to seconds

• Block Reward

  Refers to the rewards that can be earned by packing the block.

• Address

  Refers to the specific trading address

• Contract Address

  Refers to a specific contract address

How to use Etherscan?

This section will show you how to use Etherscan to locate different on-chain activities. You will learn how to look up transaction details, wallet address activity, and contract authorization cancellation, as well as access smart contracts, etc. Etherscan has an easy-to-use user interface that is ideal for beginners.

1. How to look up a transaction on Etherscan

Source: official website home page-search field Source: https://etherscan.io/

Through the search field on the home page of Etherscan, we can directly copy and paste the transaction hash, block height, wallet addresses, contract addresses, and coin names to search for the information we want.

For example, paste the transaction hash to search directly for the details regarding the specific transaction.

Source： search transaction hash on Etherscan result chart Source: https://etherscan.io/

Or, paste wallet addresses to search directly for all transactions for that wallet address；

Source: search wallet addresses on Etherscan result graph Source: https://etherscan.io/

By using the search function, the browser will provide you with all transaction-related information, such as the transaction status, transaction amount, block number, time, transaction cost, who the transaction is with, and so on. In addition to using the search bar, you can also find transactions by going to the “Blockchain” tab in the top navigation and clicking on “View Txns”, or by clicking on “View Pending Transactions” to find transactions. These pages have search boxes at the top so you can easily search between addresses, coin names, transaction hash, block height, and ENS domains.

If you don’t have a transaction address or transaction hash, you can use the transfer-in or transfer-out address associated with the transaction and look for transactions made at that address. Once you understand how to use Etherscan for transaction searches, you will find it simple to use the other features.

2. How to search for coin information on Etherscan?

Similar to searching for transactions, searching for cryptocurrency information can also be done through the search box. The difference is that coin names are not unique. There can be multiple coins with the same name on the same blockchain, and only the address of the smart contracts issued by the coin is unique. The appearance of multiple identical coins usually happens when some new projects issue tokens, and hackers intend to confuse the names of the coins to defraud users of their assets.

So when searching for specific information about a token, it is best to get the exact address of the token contract through official websites, communities, blogs, etc.

Source: search SUSHI contract address on Etherscan results chart. Source: https://etherscan.io/

Let’s take SUSHI as an example and discuss some common data and usage. Once we get to the SUSHI coin details page, we can access the following information, including

• SUSHI’s total supply so far: 245,501,732.550271232117796181
• SUSHI’s current price is: $1.66
• SUSHI’s holders volume is currently: 102,791
• SUSHI’s total trading volume currently is: 3,296,963
• SUSHI’s contract address, official website address, social media, and the latest SUSHI trading information

By clicking on the Holders below, we can view the specific wallet addresses currently holding SUSHI and the number of them, the percentage of the total supply they occupy, and other information.

Source: SUSHI holder chart on Etherscan’s official website Source: https://etherscan.io/

By clicking on Contract, we can view SUSHI’s smart contracts code; by clicking on Analytics, we can view SUSHI’s historical price and total data such as trading volume and trading addresses from the time of issuance until now.

Source: SUSHI contract code chart on Etherscan official website Source: https://etherscan.io/

3. How do I use Etherscan’s charts and statistics?

Etherscan provides charts and statistics to users in a very user-friendly way, which can be quickly accessed via “Charts & Stats” in the “Resources” tab at the top of the website.

The charts and statistics show a comprehensive view of all the activities on the Etherscan blockchain and are divided into seven categories for easy analysis, including Ethereum market data, blockchain data, dashboard, network data, popular statistics, Ethereum domain name service (ENS) data, and smart contracts data. These data are presented in the form of charts to help users can clearly understand the short-term or long-term on-chain data changes.

In this section, we will go over the most important and commonly used types of tables.

Chart: Ether supply growth chart Source: https://etherscan.io/

The Ether supply growth chart shows the breakdown of Ether’s daily block rewards, Eth 2.0 stake rewards, and EIP 1559 burn fees, added and subtracted to arrive at the total daily Ether supply. This data reflects the current daily output of Ether and is used to study the total supply and deflation of Ether. It can be concluded from the chart that the current output of Ether is trending towards a flattening out, and the number of Ether produced per day is decreasing.

Chart: Ethereum Daily Trading Chart Source: https://etherscan.io/

Chart: ERC 20 Token Daily Trading Chart Source: https://etherscan.io/

The Ether Daily Trading Chart and the ERC 20 Token Daily Trading Chart express the total daily trading of ETH and other ERC 20 tokens on the Ether chain. By observing these two sets of charts, you can get a clearer picture of the current trading status and trend of the market.

Figure: Ether unique address chart Source: https://etherscan.io/

The Ethereum Unique Addresses chart displays the number of unique addresses on Ethereum as well as their growth trends, and it is used to assess the current number of Ethereum users as well as their growth. It should be noted, however, that the total number of unique addresses does not represent the actual number of users, as users frequently create multiple addresses to participate in on-chain activities.

Figure: Chart of active ERC 20 addresses Source: https://etherscan.io/

On a daily basis, the Active ERC 20 Addresses chart displays the number of unique addresses of senders or receivers of active ERC 20 tokens. This data reflects the surge in on-chain activity and allows users to easily assess the number of users currently participating in the Ethereum market and the market’s temperature.

Figure: Average Gas Price Chart Source: https://etherscan.io/

The Average Gas Price chart shows the daily average price of Gas on the Etherchain. The data primarily reflects the density of trading activity on the chain, and whenever the daily average price of Gas spikes, it indicates that popular contracts are being traded frequently.

Figure: Ether Network Transaction Fees Chart Source: https://etherscan.io/

The Ethereum Network Transaction Fees chart shows the amount of Ether used to settle on the Ethereum chain. The higher the number of transactions on the Etherchain, the higher the transaction fees, and vice versa. The data also reflects, to some extent, the success of the chain’s trading activity.

4. How to check token approval and revoke approval on Etherscan?

When we engage in blockchain financial transactions, we typically use a feature known as Token Approval. When you use a DEX or DEFI product, you will interact with smart contracts that do most of the work for you behind the scenes. However, in order for these applications to perform financial services for you, they must have access to your assets, so they will send one-time requests to call your assets. When you no longer have to use the program to do financial services for you, you can check and revoke the approvals of any dApps linked to your wallet on Etherscan’s Ethereum Token Approval feature on the Etherscan chain.

Figure: Ether authorization check portal Source: https://etherscan.io/

This page is accessible via the “Token Approvals” tab in the “More” drop-down menu at the top of the page. Click “Connect to Web3” in the middle of the page to select the link to your common hot wallet (such as Metamask), and then you can view all the current authorization of that wallet’s Ether applications, including ERC-20, ERC-721, and ERC-1155 authorization. When you see any suspicious licenses, click “Revoke” to revoke them if you have spent more than the agreed amount or are no longer interested in their services.

Conclusion

The block explorer is a great tool to quickly understand and learn about the blockchain, and most of the block explorers on the market are similar to Etherscan. We can keep track of the evolution of various public chain ecosystems by using and learning block explorer on a regular basis. You can use it to check on-chain transactions, monitor wallets and find smart contracts, access DEFI and NFT, and gain more insights and real data to support certain blockchain activities.