Why use Etherscan?

Etherscan is a blockchain explorer, a tool that allows the user to search about information related to a blockchain, in this case Ethereum. So why should you use it? Well, Ethereum is a huge crypto with a market cap of more than $200 billion, and it’s second only to Bitcoin. Also, Crypto was designed as a decentralized currency, built around transparency, safety, and data protection, and Etherscan helps to ensure all that. Having established this, let’s look at how to use Etherscan and its multitude of uses.

Etherscan: An Overview

Looking at Etherscan the first thing you see is the homepage. This page has numerous parts: a number of constantly updating statistics about Ethereum prices, gas fees, transaction, etc., a search bar for looking up addresses, tokens, and blocks, and numerous tabs linking to NFT’s and other resources.

Let’s look at these live statistics:

• Ethereum Prices — A simple function of Etherscan is to track the current price of Ethereum
• Transaction — The number of transactions is tracked and constantly increases.
• Med Gas Price — Tracks the gas fees for transactions in Ethereum
• Market Cap — Measures the value of shares in Ethereum
• Difficulty — Measures how difficult it is to find a hash below a given target
• Hash Rate — Tracks the processing power of the Ethereum network in gigahashes per second (Gh/s)

Latest Blocks and Transactions:

• Etherscan also tracks the latest blocks added. These blocks hold transaction data ranging from all or part of a certain transaction. These blocks are open until the transaction is validated, whereon the block is closed and it serves then as a permanent record of the transaction. This tool allows complete transparency, as no movement of money can occur without it being recorded in the ledger.
• Additionally, recent transactions are recorded with additional info available upon clicking on a transaction. Clicking on a transaction opens a page where you can check the amount transferred, the gas fees paid, the sending and receiving addresses, and a transaction hash that identifies the transaction.

Wallet:

• Etherscan is capable of checking specific info on certain wallets. Using the search bar on the homepage, enter the 42-character wallet address and see holdings (even in other currencies), transactions, NFTs, and more.
• To check their holdings simply go under Token Holdings and click the arrow bar to see the various crypto currencies in their account as well the amount of each crypto they own.
• Looking at transactions you can see the latest transactions the user has made. Under Method, you can see what type of transaction was made, either execute, swap, or transfer (with a few variations). The Age shows how long ago the transaction took place. Additionally, it shows the recipient and quantity. Clicking on the Txn Hash will show further information for that specific transaction.
• Looking at other tabs, beside transfers, you can see the Internal Transactions, Token Transfers, NFT Transfers, and Analytics. These tabs show other various information, feel free to explore these tabs for more info about the certain user.

NFTs:

NFTs are “Non-fungible tokens”, or simply digital content, so just images or photos. There are wide array of NFTs in the market, and it can get confusing at times looking for a certain one, but Etherscan is there to help.

Etherscan has a variety of tools to explore NFTs. For starters, hovering over the NFT’s tab you can see that there are 5 options: Top NFT’s, Top Mints, Latest Trades, Latest Transfers, and Latest Mints.

Top NFT’s: This tab shows the NFTs with the highest Volume in rank along with the # of owners, transfers, change in price, etc. Clicking on one of these collections, shows individual NFTs and the Transfers, Holders, Inventory, etc.

Top Mints: Here a list of NFT types are shown ranking from the number of Mints. This is quite similar to the Top NFT’s, but this shows a specific type of NFT compared to the former.

Latest Trades: This simply shows the most recent NFT Trades, which shows the price paid for certain NFTs.

Latest Transfers: Like the previous tab, this shows the most NFT transfers, but these transfers are between other people.

Latest Mints: Lastly, this tab shows the most recently made NFTs.

Conclusion:

Etherscan is a useful tool, if nothing else. From checking wallets, to exploring NFTs, Etherscan has it all. Hopefully, this post has made at least a few positives of Etherscan clear to you, and encourage you to check out the tool. Thank you all for reading!