Crypto blockchains are designed to enforce transparency by default.
By making cryptocurrency transaction data available to the public, blockchain technology is revolutionizing the finance industry and promoting accessibility, tamper resistance, and trustlessness.
As a crypto user or investor, you can use blockchain transparency to your advantage by learning how to view crypto transaction history.
Key Takeaways
- Real-time crypto transaction data is available to anyone with a mobile device and an Internet connection.
- Crypto transaction history may not be made publicly available for private blockchains.
- The best place to view crypto transaction history is on blockchain explorer websites.
- You can use filters on blockchain explorers to refine their crypto transaction history search results.
- Full nodes are devices that store a copy of the entire crypto transaction history and keep the data updated when new blocks are added.
- Show Full Guide
What is Crypto Transaction History?
Crypto transaction history refers to the record of every transaction on a blockchain network.
On public blockchains like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), real-time transaction data is available to anyone with a mobile device and an Internet connection.
The transparency provided by public blockchains is one of its biggest value propositions. Openness and accessibility to transaction data allow anyone to verify transactions, track stolen funds, and conduct investment research.
It should be noted that crypto transaction history may not be made publicly available for private blockchains.
Where to View Crypto Transactions History
The best place to view crypto transaction history is on blockchain explorer websites such as Etherscan, BTCscan, and Solscan.
A blockchain explorer is an online platform that compiles and labels on-chain data and makes it readily available to the public in real time.
Users can view publicly available crypto information such as:
- Smart contract address
- Crypto wallet address
- Wallet holdings
- Transaction hash
- Transaction status
- Block number
- Timestamp
- Gas fees
- Crypto transfer amount on blockchain explorers
Each crypto network has its blockchain explorer website.
Here are the names of some of the most popular blockchain explorers in the world for tracking crypto transactions:
Crypto Network | Blockchain Explorer |
---|---|
Bitcoin | BTCscan |
Ethereum | Etherscan |
BNB Chain | BscScan |
Solana | Solscan |
XRP | XRPSCAN |
Dogecoin | Dogecoin Explorer |
Tron | TRONSCAN |
Toncoin | TON Scan |
Technical Terms to Understand Blockchain Transaction History
It is crucial to understand technical crypto terms in order to effectively track and verify crypto and blockchain transactions.
Let’s go through them one by one:
How to View Crypto Transactions History on a Blockchain Explorer
In our guide on how to view blockchain transactions, we will take the example of Ethereum blockchain explorer Etherscan.
In the steps below, you will learn how to track crypto transactions and wallet history on Etherscan:
- Visit Etherscan’s official website.
- In the search bar, type the wallet address that you want to investigate.
- The search will take you to a page with all the on-chain information about the wallet address. You will information about the wallet’s crypto balance, token holdings, latest transactions, and more.
Let’s say you want to check if the latest transaction has been successfully finalized. Under the “Transactions” bar, you will find all the crypto transactions and events associated with the wallet address.
- Select the transaction you want to verify under “Transaction hash.”
- On the next page, you will find the status of the transaction. If the status is “Success” it means that the transaction has been included in a block and added to the blockchain ledger.
- You will also find additional transaction information such as the timestamp, sender’s address, recipient address, transfer value, and gas fees.
Using Advanced Filters When Checking Blockchain Transactions
You can use filters on blockchain explorers to refine their crypto transaction history search results to perform targeted investigations and analysis.
On blockchain explorers like Etherscan, you can filter search results based on the following filters:
Downloading Blockchain Transaction History
You can view crypto transaction histories by downloading a copy of the blockchain to your device. However, this method is not recommended because downloading an entire blockchain will require a substantial amount of free disk space.
Furthermore, as the blockchain grows your transaction data and crypto wallet history becomes outdated. If you want to proceed with this method, we recommend running a full node instead. Full nodes are devices or programs that store a copy of the entire crypto transaction history and keep the data updated when new blocks are added.
More importantly, full nodes validate and accept transactions and blocks. Therefore, full nodes are crucial to the decentralization, censorship resistance, and security of a crypto blockchain.
Having more full nodes keeps a crypto network more decentralized.
Note that running a full node will not earn you any crypto rewards (like mining or validating).
How to Use Alternative Solutions to View Transaction History?
You can use alternative solutions to blockchain explorers to check crypto transactions.
For example, Bubblemaps is a popular token analysis platform that makes it easy for users to understand complex blockchain data. Unlike blockchain explorer websites, Bubblemaps is designed to allow anyone to analyze on-chain data by providing easy labels and interactive visuals.
In contrast, technical difficulties and poor user interface make it difficult for beginners to use blockchain explorers as a crypto transaction tracker tool.
Other alternative platforms to view crypto transaction histories are Spot On Chain, Nansen, and DEX Screener.
The Bottom Line
Learning how to view and analyze crypto transaction history can take you a long way as a crypto user and an investor.
Easy-to-use on-chain data compilers like Bubblemaps and DEXscreener are a great place to start your journey in performing on-chain transaction analysis.
You can later step up to use blockchain explorers for market research, token monitoring, and stolen funds investigation.
FAQs
How to check crypto transaction history?
Can I track my stolen crypto?
How do I track a Bitcoin transaction?
How to keep track of crypto for taxes?
References
- Bitcoin Blockchain Explorer: find any bitcoin transaction with BTCScan (Btcscan)
- Ethereum (ETH) Blockchain Explorer
(Etherscan) - BNB Smart Chain (BNB) Blockchain Explorer
(Bscscan) - Solscan (Solscan)
- XRP Ledger Explorer – XRPSCAN (Xrpscan)
- Dogecoin (DOGE) Explorer — Dogechain™ (Dogechain)
- TRONSCAN | TRON BlockChain Explorer | 波场区块链浏览器 (Tronscan)
- TONCOIN Blockchain Explorer (Toncoin.tonscan)