What Is A Block Explorer?
A block explorer is a browser for viewing or “exploring” all of the information on the bitcoin blockchain. With a block explorer, you can view address balances, transactions, transaction fees, the congestion of the MemPoolWhat Is The MemPool? The MemPool, short for memory pool, is a short-term database of unconfirmed transactions that is kept by each node. Although the term "MemPool" is frequently used,..., the number of daily transactions, current and past block rewards, the current mining difficultyWhat Is Mining Difficulty? Bitcoin mining difficulty is how much computational power is required for bitcoin miners to mine the next block. As more miners join the network, the difficulty..., the flow of bitcoin, and even analyze the privacy of a transaction.
In short, block explorers are for exploring all of the information in the blocks on the blockchainWhat Is The Blockchain? The blockchain is the public record of bitcoin transactions, which are organized into blocks that are all chronologically linked to one another. Because every block is....
What Are Block Explorers Used For?
As a new bitcoiner, the first thing you may want to use a block explorer for is to look up the balance of an address. This address can be your own address or any other address on the blockchain.
One of the easiest block explorers to use for beginners is called MemPool.Space. Let’s use Mempool.Space to explore the blockchain and look up some basic blockchain info.
Looking Up A Bitcoin Address
Looking up the balance of a bitcoin address is one of the single most common uses for a block explorer. If you want to view the balance of any bitcoin addressWhat Is A Bitcoin Address? A Bitcoin Address, or just Address, is a 26-35 character ID for receiving bitcoin. Most bitcoin addresses begin with 1, 3, or bc1 but there..., you will need to use a block explorer to see any fractions of a bitcoin. You can do this simply by copying and pasting the desired address in any of the block explorers listed below.
Why don’t you look up this address with the block explorer MemPool.Space? Copy the address below and paste it into the search bar in the block explorer.
1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa
Transaction Details
Every single bitcoin transactionWhat Is A Bitcoin Transaction? A Bitcoin transaction is the transfer of bitcoin from one address to another address or when new bitcoin is created. Transactions can also be the... has a sending address, a receiving address, and a bunch of other information about the transaction. To identify the transaction, a Transaction ID is needed. A transaction ID is sometimes called a Transaction HashWhat Is A Transaction ID? A bitcoin transaction ID, also known as a TXID or transaction hash, is a unique 64-character string that identifies a specific transaction on the blockchain...., or just TXIDWhat Is A Transaction ID? A bitcoin transaction ID, also known as a TXID or transaction hash, is a unique 64-character string that identifies a specific transaction on the blockchain.... for short.
Looking up the details of a transaction is also one of the most common uses for a block explorer.
Why don’t you try to look up this transaction on the blockchain?
4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b
All you need to do is copy this TXIDWhat Is A Transaction ID? A bitcoin transaction ID, also known as a TXID or transaction hash, is a unique 64-character string that identifies a specific transaction on the blockchain.... and paste it into MemPool.Space.
Transaction Confirmations
Understanding transaction confirmations is another important part of using a block explorer. Before any transaction is added to the blockchain, it is pending in something called a MemPool.
Once it has received its first transaction confirmation, it is considered included in the blockchain.
MemPool Congestion
MemPool Congestion is something that you are likely to hear as soon as you’ve sent and received a few bitcoin transactions. This just means that there are a certain number of pending transactions that haven’t been included in a block and added to the chain of confirmed blocks yet. The more pending transactions there are, the greater the MemPool congestion.
See if you can see how much MemPool congestion there is right now?
The block explorer that we have been using is MemPool.Space because it’s been specifically designed to check MemPool congestion so this should be an easy one.
Miner Fees
Every transaction requires a transaction feeWhat Is A Transaction Fee? A Bitcoin Transaction Fee, commonly known as a miner fee, is the amount of bitcoin that a sender attaches to their transaction to incentivize Bitcoin... to compensate bitcoin miners to add transactions to the blockchain. When you send a transaction, it costs moneyWhat Is Money? Money is a tool that enables humans to perform 3 basic functions: store value, exchange value, and account for value. In order for money to perform its... for the bitcoin miners to find a bitcoin block and include your transaction in it. Since they work so hard to find each and every block, they tend to prioritize the pending transactions with the largest miner fees.
When you send bitcoin, you can get it confirmed sooner with a larger miner feeWhat Is A Transaction Fee? A Bitcoin Transaction Fee, commonly known as a miner fee, is the amount of bitcoin that a sender attaches to their transaction to incentivize Bitcoin.... If you are ok with waiting a while for your transaction to be confirmed, you can attach a smaller miner fee to your transaction and the bitcoin miners will add it to the blockchain when there is less MemPool congestion.
See if you can find the miner fees with this TXID?
dc6d125930bab48766b84933de3d99e1937508fe2ec8cdda985bd0f83159da6e
Looking Up A Block Number
Looking up an entire block is just as easy as looking up most of the items listed above. If you know the block number, just search in a block explorer and you should be able to view all of the relevant data for that block.
Why don’t you try to look up this block: 500,000
Blockchain Analysis
Blockchain Analysis is the process of using computer algorithms and machine learning as well as complex heuristics to analyze the privacy of your on-chain transactions.
Using the Block Explorer, Know Your Coin Privacy, you can learn more about how you are leaking transaction data that can potentially reduce your privacy and increase the likelihood of your identity being compromised.
Sats/Byte
Understanding Bitcoin miner fees is an important part of having an advanced understanding of Bitcoin and The Blockchain. A more advanced and precise way to refer to miner fees is with satsWhat Is A Satoshi? A Satoshi (sat or sats for short) is the smallest unit of a bitcoin. 1 Satoshi is a hundred millionth of a BTC (1 sat =.../vByte.