Bitcoin Forum

Hey Bitcointalk,

Do you use multiple cryptocurrencies? Do you often struggle with explaining crypto to other people? Then you may be interested in my latest project, Satsear.ch.

Our goal is to build a universal, clear, and reliable block explorer.

Universal means tens and eventually hundreds of blockchains, automatically detected based on your query input. This kills a few birds with one stone, including shortening the learning curve to use block explorers and making it easier to search cross chain transactions (i.e. accidentally sending BTC to a BCH wallet).

Universal also means supporting everyone - multiple languages, semantic HTML, support for noJS devices. (Note: this won't be included in first release.)

Clear means unobstructed data with the most important data points (e.g. Value, Confirmations, Time Confirmed) shown before advanced data (e.g. Fees per weight unit).

Reliable means multiple redundant nodes and automatic testing ensuring that all our search features are functioning at all times. No more desynced nodes or false 404s.

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, feel free to sign up at our mailing list here: https://pages.convertkit.com/ffb4db53ad/96b7faad51 or check out our website at https://satsear.ch/.

About me: I'm James, a bitcoiner since 2013 from New Zealand. Over the last 5 years I've seen a lot of innovation in the space - the space that was once "Bitcoin" become "bitcoin + altcoins" then "crypto/blockchain/icos", at it's worst "DLT"... and now hopefully into something like "bitcoin/dapps/crypto".

One thing that I haven't seen innovate very much comparatively is block explorers. They're still fairly verbose tools that I can't really show non-technical folks. Even when I worked fulltime at a crypto exchange, it still frustrated the hell out of me navigating them.

As an example, Prohashing. I'm a big fan of the Sokolowski brothers and their service, but the simple fact is, I couldn't show a block like https://prohashing.com/explorer/DigiByte/ on there to my grandmother and have her understand what's going on.

There's ads, service data, toolbars, etc... it's anything but simple.

Hmm, that's a good idea, but are you sure that all explorer will be willing to share the data for you (I know some are available, free.).
So they will lose market share?

Good point HelioWallet - there's a few advantages we have here:

1. We aren't relying on explorer data for the most part - for example, we use the specialised service https://eth.events/ as our primary source of ETH data, rather than Etherscan. Additionally, we plan to self-host with services like https://github.com/trezor/blockbook.

2. We don't actually compete with most explorers. For example, Etherscan is much more than a block explorer - they do token metrics, price analysis, smart contract debugging - things we never intend to add ourselves. I have no doubt Etherscan will remain the dominant king for dApp developers / users. Our main focus is the simple transactions - things like Bobby sends 3 Bitcoin to Cate.

3. We link to the source of each page we get. For example if you search up a Bitcoin transaction and the data comes from Blockchain.info APIs, we'll show a link to the Blockchain.info explorer page for that transaction. We will also list all explorers we can under an "Other Explorers" section a la Blockchair.

My final observation here would also be that the market is much too immature for us to be able to take away a significant share. Most people aren't using cryptocurrency, and most people that own crypto aren't using block explorers. Building a block explorer in general is more likely to increase the 'pie' that anything else, and a block explorer that links to other block explorers - will double that effect.

I should also mention that I don't intend Satsear.ch to be profitable from day one, but rather an example of my + my partner's skills, so that we can continue to get hired for blockchain interface development/design. If we do ever add advertisements, they're going to be VERY tasteful and stuff that I myself already respect and would recommend for free. They will never interfere with seeing basic transaction/address data.

As Tim Ferriss says “You can shear a sheep many times, but you can skin him only once... So, don’t skin your fuckin’ sheep, kids.” - in practical terms, I'd rather make money using other methods and make Satsearch a kickass block explorer, rather than sacrifice how kickass Satsearch could be for money ;) https://tim.blog/2016/04/11/tim-ferriss-podcast-business/

You say very well, this is also the way I do my work.

I just checked out HelioWallet, very nice work! I'm @JamesScaur on Keybase and Telegram if you wanna connect - perhaps I can help you out with reaching a bigger audience? Or meeting designers, devs, tech writers, Ethereum node hosts - let me know :)

Hey guys I'm doing a promotion - I'll send people free Bitcoin #Lightning in exchange for a shoutout once Satsearch launches. Hit me up on Telegram/Keybase @JamesScaur, or BitcoinTalk messages?

Original video posted in Keybase/bitcoin_network: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1J_BQX5KY0

Interesting idea.
Can we test this explorer somehow before main release?

One thing I am thinking is that you will need a looot of space for all this blockchain,
and I don‚'t know how you are thinking to solve this...

I've read in your site that you won't be including info such as Fees per weight unit for example etc. I understand that you want to make the interface as friendly as possible but If this is going to be a universal blockexplorer, maybe you should include advanced info, If not shown by default, then display settings on the footer.

And since you have plans to support multiple languages, feel free to drop me a message, I could help with both the French and Arabic translations.

https://v1.satsear.ch is the live development version but right now there's an issue on there with non-layer2 transactions that I haven't figured out how to solve yet - so I recommend joining our Telegram at https://t[dot]me/joinchat/HtUYlBZcLI8xW5DjdoPEPw or mailing list https://pages.convertkit.com/ffb4db53ad/96b7faad51.


Well currently we plan to do all searches on-demand, without storing any results.

If you're referring to the node storage, it's getting cheaper by the day but you do have a good point. We're partially solving this by relying on a mix of data partners (like blockchain.info, eth.events) alongside our own nodes.

Yes, that's a good point. We'll likely be hiding them away in a table a la BlockCyphers "Advanced Details" (e.g. https://live.blockcypher.com/btc/tx/ec262bcfa0f6ec0a37159081f21d160b0ae75ad36efedb9a129ea026d6d63449/) - with a toggle option like you say.

What type of advanced details are you usually looking for in the blockchains you search?

Regarding multiple languages that would be fantastic, I'll note that down.

Like he said, "Fees per weight unit" is a must.

Also, do you support bech32 addresses? It doesn't seem to be working.


Edit: looks like it's not working with any address I try.

That live development version is still a bit too buggy to actually try it out, graphics are all messed up on Firefox on my end.
Great idea though, I might actually bookmark this one once it's finished, it's quite annoying to have to switch between different block explorers all the time.

Oh yeah, do add support for bech32 addresses, as TryNinja mentioned! That's a must for me.

Hey guys, unfortunately I haven't been able to develop much on Satsear.ch since November. I am now focusing on opening a fiat-crypto broker in Brazil (more info at https://scaur.nz/#my-offer.

I hope to somehow dovetail it with Satsearch, and open-source some (working) code - until then, I recommend everyone uses Blockchair.com.

Great APIs, fast, advanced details, and a lot of nice user-friendly features. And universal search as well :)