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

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.

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.

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

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

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/

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.

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.

Hey everyone!

Brief introduction because I'm a new user

I'm James. I first got into BTC in 2013 when I was still a kid in my first year of high school. My friend wanted to find out about the dark web, and I was a nerd who got enthralled by the possibility of digital money that I could get for free from a faucet and gamble, lol.

Fast forward 5 years and I promptly forgot about BTC entirely, having spent it all on Steam games back in that same year. I became a web developer, dropped out of high school to go overseas, then came back to my home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, which just so happened to be the site of the largest New Zealand based exchange.

It was an awesome place. My interest in cryptocurrencies turned into a full blown obsession. I learned far more than I expected.

While there I discovered a problem though.

Block explorers suck for power-users

As a customer support employee I had a single major frustration - having to manually check block explorers. It was simply inefficient, and prone to human error.

For context, customer support agents at custodial exchanges have to use block explorers for a large part of their work - verifying missing deposits, proving to customers that their withdrawals have gone out, or identifying block hashes where the proxy between the wallet and exchange went down. And searching that up takes time.

Copying and pasting, copying and pasting, waiting for page loads, and in the case of 'shitcoins', sometimes the block explorers don't even load.

Not to mention the user-unfriendliness of many explorers. Heck, even the best aren't designed for crypto customer support teams. Every block explorer I know of requires you to manually click to copy-paste each element. Etherscan and Blockchain.com requires you to drag your mouse slowly and precisely over each address, and if you misclick you risk accidentally going to a whole new page - the address explorer.

A colourful example of human error can be given with this true story: I once credited a user $15k USD worth of LUX by accident, simply because I copied the last part of the decimal points on a transaction like "5.1223". Oops.

Manually searching block explorers simply wastes time and money, and it frustrates the hell out of anyone who has to do it. That causes worse and slower support responses. Which is why crypto exchanges need:

A user friendly transaction batch search - designed for crypto support

From almost day 1 at the exchange, I was thinking about how we could make it better. Initially I went down the wrong track with hopes of a universal explorer - I still think that's a while away. But I settled on it that a batch search would simply make things a lot better, and nearly everyone around me agreed.

So in October I finished working my old job to go full-time taking a shot at making txBatch with my friend, Winston. 1.5 months later, we have a working product. It can:

• Search over fifteen thousand cryptocurrencies and tokens via the quick-entry table
• Display the results in an easy click-copy-paste format
• Allow the user to choose what data points they want, and how they want them formatted (e.g. devs want block hashes to rescan wallets, support teams want human readable #confirmations)
• Search BTC, ETH, smart contract ETH, all ERC20s, and USDT, with Monero support in beta and way more chains to come...

If on the odd occasion our nodes are taking too long to reply, or if you'd like extra peace of mind that our data is accurate, we'll even query well-known block explorer APIs as a backup (linking and crediting them as data sources). Trust, but verify, right?

Here's how it looks pre-batch (yes, design is getting an upgrade soon)


and post-batch:


"Why should I care?"

If you don't work at a crypto exchange then I fully admit this isn't designed for you. But you might want to search transactions in bulk if you run any type of business that depends on searching a lot of transaction IDs, across chains, at once.

Even if you aren't this person, perhaps you know someone that does?

Well, what we're offering is:

• Free trials for anyone who reaches out to me via $this_forums_name@scaur.nz or $this_topic_id@txbatch.com
• 20% lifetime referral commission, paid in your crypto of choice, for anyone you refer to us who becomes a customer. That includes any upgrades they make or additional services they pay for. And that's on revenue, not profit. Optionally, choose your charity of choice & we'll make a recurring donation.

Oh yeah, we have a mission:
Help crypto companies provide kickass customer support.

And why do we have that mission?
So we can get more people using crypto.

Think about the what's stopping crypto adoption. I dare say it's more to do with unfamiliarity than actual flaws with cryptocurrency itself. I've always found crypto to be cheap, easy, and fast. And the more crypto business that provide better customer support, the more people will have good experiences. Good experiences will lead to people wanting to use crypto, and that'll lead to all the brilliant minds and visions in this space becoming a reality.

Thanks,
James

--

Home page: txBTCatch.com ⛓
If you want to help us out with market research - block explorer survey

Example email you could send to someone:
Hi XXX,

How are you doing? I came across an announcement on bitcointalk.org and thought you might want to check it out - a couple of guys have created a bulk search block explorer to help crypto [exchanges/retailers] like yours speed up their customer support. You can see their site at https://txbatch.com [and I can also get you a free trial if you want] [If you sign up, can you give me as your reference?]

Best,
YourName

Hey everyone!

Brief introduction because I'm a new user

I'm James. I first got into BTC in 2013 when I was still a kid in my first year of high school. My friend wanted to find out about the dark web, and I was a nerd who got enthralled by the possibility of digital money that I could get for free from a faucet and gamble, lol.

Fast forward 5 years and I promptly forgot about BTC entirely, having spent it all on Steam games back in that same year. I became a web developer, dropped out of high school to go overseas, then came back to my home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, which just so happened to be the site of the largest New Zealand based exchange.

It was an awesome place. My interest in cryptocurrencies turned into a full blown obsession. I learned far more than I expected.

While there I discovered a problem though.

Block explorers suck for power-users

As a customer support employee I had a single major frustration - having to manually check block explorers. It was simply inefficient, and prone to human error.

For context, customer support agents at custodial exchanges have to use block explorers for a large part of their work - verifying missing deposits, proving to customers that their withdrawals have gone out, or identifying block hashes where the proxy between the wallet and exchange went down. And searching that up takes time.

Copying and pasting, copying and pasting, waiting for page loads, and in the case of 'shitcoins', sometimes the block explorers don't even load.

Not to mention the user-unfriendliness of many explorers. Heck, even the best aren't designed for crypto customer support teams. Every block explorer I know of requires you to manually click to copy-paste each element. Etherscan and Blockchain.com requires you to drag your mouse slowly and precisely over each address, and if you misclick you risk accidentally going to a whole new page - the address explorer.

A colourful example of human error can be given with this true story: I once credited a user $15k USD worth of LUX by accident, simply because I copied the last part of the decimal points on a transaction like "5.1223". Oops.

Manually searching block explorers simply wastes time and money, and it frustrates the hell out of anyone who has to do it. That causes worse and slower support responses. Which is why crypto exchanges need:

A user friendly transaction batch search - designed for crypto support

From almost day 1 at the exchange, I was thinking about how we could make it better. Initially I went down the wrong track with hopes of a universal explorer - I still think that's a while away. But I settled on it that a batch search would simply make things a lot better, and nearly everyone around me agreed.

So in October I finished working my old job to go full-time taking a shot at making txBatch with my friend, Winston. 1.5 months later, we have a working product. It can:

• Search over fifteen thousand cryptocurrencies and tokens via the quick-entry table
• Display the results in an easy click-copy-paste format
• Allow the user to choose what data points they want, and how they want them formatted (e.g. devs want block hashes to rescan wallets, support teams want human readable #confirmations)
• Search BTC, ETH, smart contract ETH, all ERC20s, and USDT, with Monero support in beta and way more chains to come...

If on the odd occasion our nodes are taking too long to reply, or if you'd like extra peace of mind that our data is accurate, we'll even query well-known block explorer APIs as a backup (linking and crediting them as data sources). Trust, but verify, right?

Here's how it looks pre-batch (yes, design is getting an upgrade soon)


and post-batch:


"Why should I care?"

If you don't work at a crypto exchange then I fully admit this isn't designed for you. But you might want to search transactions in bulk if you run any type of business that depends on searching a lot of transaction IDs, across chains, at once.

Even if you aren't this person, perhaps you know someone that does?

Well, what we're offering is:

• Free trials for anyone who reaches out to me via $this_forums_name@scaur.nz or $this_topic_id@txbatch.com
• 20% lifetime referral commission, paid in your crypto of choice, for anyone you refer to us who becomes a customer. That includes any upgrades they make or additional services they pay for. And that's on revenue, not profit. Optionally, choose your charity of choice & we'll make a recurring donation.

Oh yeah, we have a mission:
Help crypto companies provide kickass customer support.

And why do we have that mission?
So we can get more people using crypto.

Think about the what's stopping crypto adoption. I dare say it's more to do with unfamiliarity than actual flaws with cryptocurrency itself. I've always found crypto to be cheap, easy, and fast. And the more crypto business that provide better customer support, the more people will have good experiences. Good experiences will lead to people wanting to use crypto, and that'll lead to all the brilliant minds and visions in this space becoming a reality.

Thanks,
James

--

Home page: txBTCatch.com ⛓
If you want to help us out with market research - block explorer survey

Example email you could send to someone:
Hi XXX,

How are you doing? I came across an announcement on bitcointalk.org and thought you might want to check it out - a couple of guys have created a bulk search block explorer to help crypto [exchanges/retailers] like yours speed up their customer support. You can see their site at https://txbatch.com [and I can also get you a free trial if you want] [If you sign up, can you give me as your reference?]

Best,
YourName