Blockscout: The Only EVM Blockchain Explorer You’ll Ever Need - Milk Road

What is Blockscout?

Blockscout is the ultimate tool for exploring and leveraging over 600 EVM-compatible blockchain ledgers.

It goes beyond what regular blockchain explorers offer. Blockscout is packed with features that help you manage, track, and analyze on-chain activity with ease.

Blockscout Overview

Unlike most blockchain explorers that only give you basic transaction details, Blockscout lets you track addresses, tag transactions, verify and interact with contracts, and view charts and statistics across different chains. It even integrates your favorite DApps and popular tools like Zerion, Farcaster, Hardhat, and Sourcify.

The best part? Blockscout is highly customizable, so you can set it up to fit your personal needs. It even remembers your preferences for future use.

Blockscout lets you see the blockchain through your own lens.

Walkthrough: Blockscout on Ethereum

Your Blockscout journey usually begins on its Chains and Projects page.

Here, you can search for and select one of their 600+ supported networks. Alternatively, you can go straight to Blockscout for Ethereum, if you’re mostly on the main chain.

Once you get to the Blockscout homepage, you’ll notice a neatly-presented block explorer. This gives you a quick overview of what's happening on the network right now.

You’ll get all the most important details about the blockchain, including:

• Total number of blocks: The total number of blocks added to the blockchain so far.
• Average block time: The average time it takes to create a new block.
• Total number of transactions: The total amount of transactions processed on the blockchain.
• Number of wallet addresses: The number of unique wallets created on the blockchain.

It also shows useful real-time info that applies to trading and DeFi, such as:

• Current gas fees: The cost to process transactions on the network right now.
• $ETH market price: The current price of Ethereum in the market.
• $ETH market cap: The total value of all Ethereum coins combined.
• Network usage: How much of the blockchain’s capacity is being used.
• Recent blocks and transactions: Live updates of the latest blocks and transactions added to the blockchain.

There’s also a search bar, so you can navigate directly to an address or transaction hash of interest.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.The real good stuff is tucked away in the sidebar.

Sidebar Features

Charts and Stats

Clicking the Charts & Stats tab gives you immediate access to detailed charts and statistics for any supported blockchain.

This helps you track key metrics over time, like:

• Active accounts: The number of wallet addresses currently interacting on the blockchain.
• New addresses: The number of new wallet addresses created on the blockchain.
• Total transactions: The overall number of transactions recorded on the network.
• Average transaction fees: The average cost users pay to process a transaction.
• Success rates: The percentage of transactions that are successfully completed.
• Block size: The amount of data included in each block on the blockchain.
• Block rewards: The amount of ETH given to miners for creating a new block.
• Verified contracts: The number of smart contracts that have been verified on the network.
• ETH transfers: The total number of Ethereum transfers between wallet addresses.

These insights let you quickly analyze blockchain activity, follow trends, and export the data for deeper review.

This is great for tracking trends or doing more detailed research, like the Blockscout team demonstrated here:

In this analysis, Blockscout uses a selection of its own data to look at how the Base Layer 2 network grew in August 2024.

Some fascinating insights show:

• Base had more than 1 million active users in a single day and over 4 million transactions happening daily.
• More developers are building on Base, as seen by the increase in verified contracts.
• There was also a big jump in token transfers in March 2024, driven by memecoins.

Blockscout makes this kind of analysis simple by providing real-time data on user activity, transactions, and token movements, helping people easily spot trends and growth.

It gives you a clear view of what's happening on a network, so you can stay well-informed and ahead of the game.

Whale-Watching

As we all know, observing large token holders (AKA ‘whales’) can provide valuable insights into the market and the dynamics of specific tokens.

Blockscout lets you view lists of the largest token holders for any native or specific token, making it easy to track these high-value accounts. This can help to understand shifts in liquidity and potential price changes.

In the example above, Blockscout provides the same detailed breakdown of Tether's top holders that you’d find on Etherscan, but with a more user-friendly interface.

You still get all the essential data such as top holder wallet addresses, the quantity and percentage of supply owned, and more… But, you also get a bunch of extra useful tools:

• Verified contract badge: A check mark that shows a token contract has been reviewed and verified, so you know it’s safe and legit.
• "Add to MetaMask" button: A simple button to easily add a token to your MetaMask wallet, straight from Blockscout.
• Unique identifiers for holder addresses: Clear labels that help you tell apart different wallet addresses that hold a certain token.
• Private & public tags: You can create tags for your personal use or submit tags for public use (after review), making it easier to identify important wallets (we’ll touch on these later).

Rather than a busy, number-heavy interface, Blockscout has an intuitive layout and easy-to-navigate design.

It’s the same valuable information, just presented in a clearer and more accessible way.

Account-Only Features

Now, let’s take things a step further, by unlocking extra features with a Blockscout account.

All you need to access these is an account created with an email address – nothing more. Even easier, you can log in instantly with your GitHub account, if you have one.

Is an account necessary? The short answer is yes – and you’ll see why. These are features you want saved to an account for you. Don’t worry, it's all private.

Here’s what you can do with a Blockscout user account:

Follow Smart Money

Let’s say you’re interested in following what Vitalik is doing. As one of the most important figures in the entire space, it probably pays to see what he does on-chain, right?

With a Blockscout account, you can add his wallet address to your personal watchlist. Not only that, but you can choose to be notified any time Vitalik makes a transaction – whether it’s buying a token or transferring funds.

This makes it easy to stay informed about important movements from the key players or wallets you're following, without constantly checking the explorer yourself.

Smart Money Insights

When you view a specific Ethereum externally-owned account (EOA) on Blockscout, you get a detailed breakdown of everything happening with that account:

• $ETH balance and net worth: You can see how much Ethereum the account holds and its value in dollars.
• Transaction history: You’ll find a list of all transactions, showing details like transaction IDs, whether they were successful, what type of transaction it was (e.g., sending tokens or interacting with a smart contract), and how much gas (fees) was paid.
• Token transfers: A record of tokens that were sent or received by the account, showing which tokens, how much, and when.
• Gas usage: The total gas fees the account has used over all its transactions.
• Contract interactions: If the account is involved with smart contracts, you’ll see what actions the address took (such as approving a token transfer), and the details of those interactions.
• Internal transactions: These are behind-the-scenes transactions. They happen inside smart contracts and are also logged.

You can export everything via CSV file, so you can download all of the above data for more in-depth tracking or analysis.

So, how do you add an address to your watchlist?

Easy. Simply click on the star icon on any EOA, and you’ll see the following window:

This lets you add a private tag for easy identification, and select what type of token activity you want to be notified about (if any). Blockscout can send notifications directly to your email address, so you can keep a finger on the pulse.

You can view saved addresses in a single list under the “Watchlist” tab in the sidebar.

Private Tags

Private tags are pretty self-explanatory. For any account or contract address, you can add your own private tag to name or describe it – the way you want it to be remembered.

You no longer have to try to remember who an account belongs to (or what the smart contract is), solely from recognizing part of a random string or numbers or letters, or their holdings. Instead, you can slap your own name on it, which will be saved to your account for future reference.

Private tags can be managed and edited under the “Private Tags” tab in the sidebar:

Bonus Features

Zerion & Farcaster Links

For additional detailed information on any account address, you can use the Zerion and Farcaster integrations.

Zerion is an app that helps you track and manage all your crypto investments and NFTs in one place, while Farcaster is a decentralized social network.

Farcaster and Zerion both connect to Ethereum addresses, letting you verify identities, manage assets, and easily track friends' crypto activity.

When we click on the Zerion button, we go straight to the Zerion page for Vitalik’s address.

This gives a full overview of the user's portfolio across different blockchains. It shows the total value of all assets, including ERC-20 tokens, DeFi tokens, and NFTs, and a complete history of transactions.

You can see how assets are distributed, what DeFi activities the user is involved in, and get a look at holdings across multiple networks – all in one place.

Open-Source Collaboration

Knowing how handy private tags are on major blockchain addresses, Blockscout encourages collaboration by letting users suggest public labels for wallets.

These can be suggested by any user, followed by a review process. Once reviewed, these labels are visible to everyone, helping people identify important wallets – like those belonging to centralized exchanges (CEXes) or important organizations.

For example, if a wallet is confirmed to be from a CEX, it will be labeled as such for all users to see. This makes blockchain data more transparent and trustworthy, as the information is improved and verified by the community.

A public label will be shown after review (that's how we know a wallet is from a CEX for example, it speaks to the collaborative nature of open-source).

DApp Integrations

DAppscout

One of the most popular Blockscout features is DAppscout: your go-to tool for safely discovering and interacting with top decentralized apps (DApps).

DAppscout is a marketplace feature that offers a quick and secure way to explore and interact with top DApps on your favorite blockchains. It’s sort of like your homepage for DeFi, to start an on-chain session.

With a curated list of trusted apps, organized into easy-to-browse categories like swaps and bridges, you can quickly find what you need while avoiding risky sites.

DAppscout goes a step further by offering safety ratings and real user reviews, so you can confidently choose the best DApps. Plus, it integrates smoothly with your Blockscout-linked wallet. This makes it fast and hassle-free to get started.

We’ve covered DAppscout in depth in another article. If you’re keen to learn how it can elevate your DeFi experience, check out our full DAppscout guide here.

DeFi Dropdown Menu

As if DAppscout didn’t already make this super easy for DeFi apps, the cherry on top is Blockscout’s DeFi dropdown menu in the top-right corner.

This contains shortcuts for swaps, batching transactions, sending payments as links, and gas top-ups. We’ll go over these in detail in a future article, so keep your eyes peeled!

Decentralized Docs

Ever wanted the convenience of Google Docs, but keep it extra-secure and off Google servers?

Blockscout now lets you use Fileverse to create and collaborate on decentralized documents (dDocs) directly within the platform. You can search for your docs on the blockchain, write and work with others without needing permission, and access everything on mobile or desktop using DAppscout.

It’s a secure way to manage and share documents on-chain, giving you full control and privacy while working with others.

Wrapping It Up

In summary, Blockscout is the go-to tool for anyone looking to explore and harness over 600 EVM blockchain networks.

Blockscout lets you see the blockchain from your personal point of view – and with a user account, it’ll remember exactly how you want to use it. From real-time data and trends, to adding addresses to your private watchlist and receiving activity notifications, Blockscout goes much deeper than any other block explorer we know of – not to mention its killer DAppscout marketplace.

Try it out now by starting on the Chains and Projects page, and choose your favorite blockchain. I’m sure you’ll be impressed!