What Are We Actually Looking at When We Check Etherscan?
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What Are We Actually Looking at When We Check Etherscan?
A Self-Service Guide to Blockchain Data Applications
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy: Shijun
Following last week's Love, Death & Robots NFT incident, the glaring weakness in WEB3 infrastructure (and user understanding) has clearly become a barrier for many enthusiasts eager to dive deeper—especially after being repeatedly asked, “Where is my NFT after minting?”
So if you have any of the following questions, this article is your perfect guide!
● After transferring from an exchange to my personal wallet, has it arrived?
● The NFT mint transaction is complete—where is my asset?
● Everyone says blockchain data is public—how do I extract the full list of Bored Ape holders?
● I've heard there are all sorts of strange arbitrage bots on-chain—where can I find them?
Depending on which public chain they belong to, on-chain data usually has its own blockchain explorer. Etherscan.io is the gateway to Ethereum.
Starting from foundational data, this article explains the meaning behind blocks, transactions, and addresses. With practical examples using Etherscan’s extended analytics, we aim to help you unlock the door to web3!
1. What Can Etherscan Do?
All interactions on Ethereum are public. Using a transaction hash (TX ID), you can view every related activity—including tokens, smart contracts, and wallet addresses.
Although Etherscan doesn't require registration, creating a personal account unlocks additional features such as setting alerts for pending transactions, accessing developer tools, and customizing data feeds.
For example, if you discover Elon Musk’s wallet address, you could monitor every single one of his transactions.
2. What Can’t Etherscan Do?
Etherscan does not provide Ethereum wallet functionality or private key storage services. Therefore, you cannot conduct transactions directly through Etherscan alone. To trade or store cryptocurrency, you’ll need a crypto wallet such as Trust Wallet, MetaMask, Math Wallet, or Binance Chain Wallet.
Only by managing your private keys with a wallet can you leverage Etherscan’s convenient contract interaction feature to initiate basic function calls—for example, initiating a mint transaction like in last week’s Love, Death & Robots NFT drop. For details, see:When Netflix’s NFT Forgot Web2 Business Security
3. What Does Etherscan Offer?
It mainly falls into three categories:
● Basic standardized data query entry points
● Advanced common data analytics and statistics
● Customized API services for developers
3.1 Public Basic Information
We know that blockchain technology involves bundling multiple executed transactions into blocks, publishing them, and recording them on a distributed ledger. Contracts refer to transactions carrying customized code within their note fields, enabling logic execution in a virtual machine. By recording the raw information of each transaction, we can replay them step-by-step to reconstruct the entire history.
This involves three core components of public information: Transactions, Blocks, and Addresses. These correspond to the three areas shown in the image below.
Sandwiched in the middle are the most commonly used basic metrics:
● ETHER PRICE: Current ETH-to-USD exchange rate
● TRANSACTIONS: Total number of transactions
● MED GAS PRICE: Average gas price per transaction
● MARKET CAP: Total market capitalization
● TRANSACTION HISTORY: Daily total transactions over the past 14 days
● DIFFICULTY and HASH RATE: Not discussed here
3.2 What’s Inside a Transaction Detail Page?
Let’s pick any recent transaction. Most of the data is self-explanatory.
Think of it like tracking a package through delivery:
1. What’s the tracking number? (Transaction Hash)
2. Was delivery successful? (Status)
3. When was it received? (Timestamp)
4. Where did it come from (from), and where is it going (to)?
5. Which courier packed it? (Block)
6. What’s inside the envelope? (Value + Input Data)
7. How much postage was paid? (Transaction Fee)
Note: The "to" address can be a contract, a user address (EOA), or 0x0—which indicates a new contract creation (though Etherscan will display the newly created contract address as the "to" field).
There are also additional tabs above:
● log: Shows the sequence of function calls and main parameters during execution
● state: Displays status changes of involved parties—rarely used
● comments: User comments—this is a centralized feature, not on-chain data
3.3 What’s Inside a Block Detail Page?
Block information is relatively complex but less useful for state analysis.
Includes technical parameters such as block reward, uncle block reward, and burnt fees—not covered in depth here.
3.4 What’s Inside an Address Detail Page?
Note: This information originates from the blockchain but is reorganized and presented by Etherscan.
If you're wondering how to locate all your accumulated ERC20 tokens, check the Token tab.
If you’ve purchased an ENS domain, you can quickly locate your address via that name. In my case, my address ends with b14c—a vanity address I generated programmatically (with “14” embedded).
Below are categorized archives for various transaction types.
Internal Tx refers to internal transactions—when I call a contract that itself triggers another transaction (e.g., calling other contracts to retrieve data), those secondary transactions initiated by the contract appear as internal transactions (with the contract as the "from" address).
Addresses reported by many users and verified by Etherscan receive a risk label—a red shield icon—indicating potential phishing contracts or hacker-controlled addresses used to launder stolen funds.
The Analytics tab offers basic analytical reports that answer more advanced questions, such as:
● Tracking balance changes of whale addresses—see what NFTs a prominent influencer recently bought
● Monitoring recent transaction volume of a contract—the most basic indicator of product popularity
If the address is a contract, you’ll also see a Contract tab.
For example, during the Love, Death & Robots NFT event:
● Analyzing their use of dynamic signature verification (EIP-1271): Go to #1, view source code
● Querying how many times each type of 1155 NFT was minted: Use #2 for state queries—no gas required
● Executing a mint to claim your own NFT: Initiate a transaction via #3—state-changing action requiring gas
Warning: This feature requires confidence in the contract’s security. Otherwise, your assets may be at risk—beginners should avoid it.
4. Advanced Statistical Information
On-chain data transparency breaks down many barriers found in web2 industries, giving rise to some fundamental statistical dashboards on Etherscan. Below is a structured overview (expanded from the initial landing page).
The amount of information here is overwhelming, so instead of listing everything, let’s explore how to combine these data points effectively.
● Monitor whale movements: Top Accounts
● Track pending transaction queues: Pending Txns
Pending means unconfirmed. Watching this queue gives you a god-like view of upcoming transactions. Hackers often increase their gas price to jump ahead in line—especially during NFT mints, where everyone races to get included in the same block when minting is enabled.
ERC20 Leaderboard: Anti-phishing reference, also provides a snapshot showing ~530K ERC20-compliant contracts. Sorted by circulating market cap, top ones include BNB and USDT, along with holder counts and other stats.
Charts & Stats contain abundant data—different roles focus on different aspects.
For instance, contract developers care about gas metrics because deployment costs vary—timing launches during low-gas periods saves money.
To compare cross-chain conditions, use cross-chain data to track TVL (Total Value Locked) across ecosystems.
If you’re evaluating whether this ecosystem is worth exploring, check the Ethereum Daily Verified Contracts Chart.
Each verified contract potentially represents a live product—reflecting the overall health and growth of the ecosystem.
5. Custom Data Extraction
By now, you're clearly hands-on and technically inclined. Beyond viewing dashboards, how do you bypass Excel export limits on the website? How can you batch-extract data for the top 10,000 projects by transaction volume? Or analyze how a hacking script profited and calculate its earnings? That’s where API documentation comes in—enabling customized data extraction.
Full developer docs: https://docs.etherscan.io/
Ultimately, simple URL requests allow you to fetch data—for example, checking a specific address balance:
Use:
/api?module=account&action=balance&address=0x&tag=latest&apikey=YourApiKeyToken
Get:
{status: "1", message: "OK", result: "1111"}
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