Ledger LandISSUE #84 of 90

block explorers · reading the chain

BlockyVSDouble-Spend Dan

Blocky saysBlock explorers let anyone read the chain — transactions, balances, and contract code.

A block explorer (Etherscan, Blockscout) is the public window into a chain: look up any transaction's status and details, an address's balance and history, a token's holders, and verified contract source code. It's the first stop for debugging a transaction, checking if something confirmed, or reading a contract before you interact with it. Treat "verify the contract on the explorer" as a habit.

Power-ups you unlock

Read transactions, balances, token holders
Inspect verified contract source
First stop for debugging a tx
Verify contracts before interacting

Double-Spend Dan attacks — common mistakes

Interacting with unverified contracts blindly
Assuming a pending tx is confirmed
Not checking token-holder concentration

Boss battleList three checks to run on an explorer before interacting with a contract.

Example code

<!doctype html><html><head><meta charset="utf-8"></head>
<body style="background:#06040d;color:#e6e0ff;font-family:monospace;padding:20px"><pre>before interacting, on the explorer:
  · is the contract source verified?
  · holder concentration / age?
  · recent suspicious transfers?</pre></body></html>

▶ Open the interactive comic issue

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