[Guide] How to use Blockchain Explorer to check status of your transaction

[Pokapoka124]

If you're a p2p trader, you should learn to utilize the block explorer to check on the status of their transactions. Once a transaction is initiated, the user will receive an automatically-generated transaction hash from blockchain and can use it to look up details of the payment and whether it was successful. This will help you avoid falling for flash coin scams and others.
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This is the home page you see when you click on https://www.blockchain.com/explorer.

To check the transactions made on a wallet address. Click on the search bar and paste the address. Note that the search bar is set to search the Bitcoin blockchain by default, but you also can search the Ethereum blockchains by clicking on the small arrow and making your selection on the dropdown menu.



 You can confirm whether the coin you are waiting on has arrived yet by pasting their wallet address into the search bar.
After entering the address. It takes you to the next page where you can see all transactions made on that address and you can easily pin point yours and see the status of your coin if it has confirmed or not.



On the image, the 0.00107 btc is yet to be confirmed by the blockchain network and needs at least four confirmation.


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The green shows that the bitcoin has been confirmed by the blockchain network. You're good to go!

 

[cryptoaddictchie]

This is a nice guide mate.

You can also used the image display feature of forum since you are already a member rank. Just used the code

Code:

[img][/img]

Insert the image link between the img and /img.

This could make your post more attractive showing directly what you want to show instead clicking the image link.

Blockchain explorer is a nice tool. It is also supported some blockchain and not just bitcoin to check the transactions conducted.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

you should learn to utilize the block explorer to check on the status of their transactions. Once a transaction is initiated, the user will receive an automatically-generated transaction hash from blockchain and can use it to look up details of the payment and whether it was successful.

Block explorers are not only ways to check status of your transactions. If you use a non custodial wallet, you will be able know the transaction status in the wallet.

Block explorers can leak your IP address if you check your transactions without Tor connection.

List of useful Bitcoin block explorers. Blockchair and Blockstream explorers are my favorite.

Blockchair explorer has Privacy-o-meter and you will know the priority of your transaction in the mempool.

In imgur.com, you can choose BBcode for your image links (Get share links - BBCode (Forums))

[pooya87]

Blockchain explorers are useful when you want to explore the blockchain as a database in a UI for some general stuff, not to keep track of your own transactions. To do that you must use your own wallet, a wallet that is either built on top of your full node (eg. bitcoin core) and can tell you precisely the status of your transaction (in mempool, double spent, abandoned, low/high fee,...) or a SPV wallet that can tell you the same things with a good level of confidence.
Using blockchain explorers may not give you correct or reliable information depending on the explorer you use and also it violates your privacy since they can easily store your IP address and fingerprint to use later as their contribution to blockchain analyzers that deanonimize bitcoin transactions.

[Charles-Tim]

Blockchain.com/explorer is one of the old explorers that does not want to upgrade to the modern types, the feerate on the site is in sat/byte while many new explorer represent the feerate in sat/vbyte while some indicate both which are appropriate. I will advice you to use better explorers like blockchair.com.

Once a transaction is initiated, the user will receive an automatically-generated transaction hash from blockchain and can use it to look up details of the payment and whether it was successful. This will help you avoid falling for flash coin scams and others.

It depends, in this regard, if replace-by-fee is not enabled and the bitcoin is sent with high fee in a way the transaction can not later be dropped from mempool. If replace-by-fee is enabled, the sender can trick the receiver thinking he has sent the coin but of which not yet confirmed, the sender can double-spend the transaction back into another address on his wallet or into another address of his choice.

On the image, the 0.00107 btc is yet to be confirmed by the blockchain network and needs at least four confirmation.

On noncustodial wallets, only a single (1) confirmation is needed, you may be confused with the exchange you are using that will make it mandatory that certain numbers of confirmation is needed. But in design, only 1 confirmation is needed.

Blockchain explorers are useful when you want to explore the blockchain as a database in a UI for some general stuff, not to keep track of your own transactions. To do that you must use your own wallet, a wallet that is either built on top of your full node (eg. bitcoin core) and can tell you precisely the status of your transaction (in mempool, double spent, abandoned, low/high fee,...) or a SPV wallet that can tell you the same things with a good level of confidence.

This is just correct, why checking blockchain explorer. I have used like three wallets now, all are noncustodial and SPV, only one confirmation needed, and well indicated on wallet if a transaction is confirmed or not, I think this is enough. Full client wallets like Bitcoin Core will be good for full tracking which will make such blockchain explorers not useful, while SPV wallet can indicate a transaction that is confirmed or not yet confirmed, this will be advisable for privacy.

But there are exceptional cases when someone using SPV wallets will not have any option than to make use of blockchain explorer, a good example is during escrow service, Mr A sent bitcoin to escrow service provider ( Mr B), while Mr C will send fiat. In this case, Mr A will provide txid so that the seller Mr C can check this on explorer, while Mr C will send the receipt of the fiat sent to escrow provider to Mr A for transparency that they have actually sent the funds to escrow. There are still many other reasons blockchain explorer can be very important for transparency.

I have not seen SPV wallets that indicates if incoming transaction is replace-by-fee or not, some organizations can accept incoming bitcoin transactions that replace-by-fee is not enabled, with this, if not having full client wallet, the organization will have to make use of blockchain explorer to track the transaction.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

I have not seen SPV wallets that indicates if incoming transaction is replace-by-fee or not

You can. With Electrum SPV wallet. Click on your incoming transaction, right click and choose View transaction.

You will see details for that incoming transaction, with Replace-by-Fee: will be True or False.
- True: it is an opt-in Replace-by-Fee transaction
- False: it is not an opt-in Replace-by-Fee transaction

[pooya87]

But there are exceptional cases when someone using SPV wallets will not have any option than to make use of blockchain explorer, a good example is during escrow service, Mr A sent bitcoin to escrow service provider ( Mr B), while Mr C will send fiat. In this case, Mr A will provide txid so that the seller Mr C can check this on explorer, while Mr C will send the receipt of the fiat sent to escrow provider to Mr A for transparency that they have actually sent the funds to escrow. There are still many other reasons blockchain explorer can be very important for transparency.

When there is an escrow between A, B and C they must be using a 2 of 3 multi signature scheme which means all 3 of them have the address that the coin is being sent to but only have a single private key. So they can each check the status of the address (whether it has received anything and whether it is confirmed, RBF,...) in their wallets.

I have not seen SPV wallets that indicates if incoming transaction is replace-by-fee or not, some organizations can accept incoming bitcoin transactions that replace-by-fee is not enabled, with this, if not having full client wallet, the organization will have to make use of blockchain explorer to track the transaction.

It is a trivial thing to do as long as the wallet has a way of receiving the raw transaction which any full node or SPV wallet would do. Then all they have to do is to check their inputs' sequence value to know if RBF is enabled or not.
As @SquirrelJulietGarden correctly pointed out this can be done in Electrum even if you don't have the address already.

[Pokapoka124]

This is a nice guide mate.

You can also used the image display feature of forum since you are already a member rank. Just used the code

Code:

[img][/img]

Insert the image link between the img and /img.

This could make your post more attractive showing directly what you want to show instead clicking the image link.

Thank you. I have edited the image...looks better now.

Checking the status of your transaction with any block explorer diminishes your privacy as those services are suspected in the gathering of IPs. Therefore when using them bring to bear either TOR or VPN or DPN and frequently change those IP hiding services to tie up in knots spying agents.  Privacy is the foundation  every bitcoiner needs.

Wow I didn't know that. Privacy is everything to me, I'd hate to lose that. What really got me interested in bitcoin was the idea that its anonymous but I have come to realize that it is not entirely true.

[BlackHatCoiner]

Wow I didn't know that. Privacy is everything to me, I'd hate to lose that. What really got me interested in bitcoin was the idea that its anonymous but I have come to realize that it is not entirely true.

Keep in mind that you don't have to expose to someone that you want to find out the balance of an address. Even if you connected through tor, the block explorer would know that someone wants to find out the balance of your address. There isn't a better solution than "being" the block explorer which means to run your own node. You don't have to run a full node. Running Bitcoin Core pruned is more than enough.

This way, you're achieving the max privacy you could achieve, since your computer verifies the blocks and sums your current balance based on your transactions. The disadvantage is that it takes time for your node to complete the scan. And that's because you're downloading the entire blockchain. ^{(but then you're getting rid of the blocks)}

[khaled0111]

There isn't a better solution than "being" the block explorer which means to run your own node. You don't have to run a full node. Running Bitcoin Core pruned is more than enough.

If you want to run your own blockexplorer than you have to run a full node to be able to query old blocks. Pruned nodes are not suitable for this as they keep removing old data.

Privacy is everything to me, I'd hate to lose that. What really got me interested in bitcoin was the idea that its anonymous but I have come to realize that it is not entirely true.

Bitcoin is pseudonymous but there are some practices that may help you to increase your privacy and remain anonymous such as using mixers, never reusing the same address, avoiding services which require kyc...

[BlackHatCoiner]

If you want to run your own blockexplorer than you have to run a full node to be able to query old blocks. Pruned nodes are not suitable for this as they keep removing old data.

That is not always true. There are block explorers that parse their data they receive on a mysql database. You shouldn't imagine that a block explorer searches the entire blockchain from its node when you want to find out your balance. Anyway, I meant that it'd be more than enough for his/her privacy.

[JeromeTash]

I don't know if it's just me but I don't really like Blockchain explorer. Blockchair and mempool.space seem to be much better options for me as they can even show the priority/position of my transaction in the mempool

For example mempool.space will even show you the position of the transaction in the next blocks

[tranthidung]

I don't know if it's just me but I don't really like Blockchain explorer. Blockchair and mempool.space seem to be much better options for me as they can even show the priority/position of my transaction in the mempool

You can check the estimated priority position of your transactions with

• Blockchair.com. It shows Priority position of yours among total waiting transactions in the mempool
• Blockstream.info. It gives you the estimated space of your transaction from the tip of mempool
• Johoe's Bitcoin Mempool Size Statistics. Hover your computer mouse to the fee rate of your transaction and see the estimated size (virtual byte) from tip of mempool.

[Myleschetty]

I don't know if it's just me but I don't really like Blockchain explorer.

Me either I don't like Blockchain explorer and I guess it because they didn't update/upgrade their service and the site also consume more data while blockchair and Blockstream are more mobile friendly and also provide more details about the transaction than Blockchain explorer.
I used https://btc.network/estimate to calculate transaction fee