Etherscan is the most widely used Ethereum blockchain explorer, turning raw on-chain data into searchable records of transactions, wallets, smart contracts, and gas costs. According to reports from Etherscan, the platform was founded by Matthew Tan in 2015 and now operates explorers for more than 30 blockchains through its parent company Blockscan, including BscScan, PolygonScan, and the acquired Solana explorer Solscan. The platform processes data from over 2.8 billion cumulative Ethereum transactions and tracks more than 300 million unique addresses. Core features include a gas tracker, token approval checker, contract verification tool, and an API that serves over 500 million calls per day from wallets, portfolio trackers, and DeFi dashboards.
Every Ethereum transaction has a unique identifier called a transaction hash, a 66-character string starting with 0x. As reported by Etherscan, when pasted into the search bar, the transaction details page displays fields including status (whether the transaction succeeded or failed), block number, timestamp, sender address, recipient address, value of ETH transferred, transaction fee in ETH, gas price in gwei, gas limit and usage, and input data for smart contract interactions. The platform also includes a gas tracker that displays real-time gas prices in three tiers: low, average, and high, with estimated costs for common operations. According to Etherscan, average gas prices in early 2026 fell to roughly 0.47 gwei, down from 1.67 gwei a year earlier, with mainnet transaction fees dropping approximately 95 percent to about $0.01 per transaction for simple transfers.
Searching for an Ethereum address on Etherscan opens a complete financial history page that shows the ETH balance, dollar value at current prices, and total value of ERC-20 tokens held. According to Etherscan, the transactions tab lists every ETH transfer sent or received, the token transfers tab shows ERC-20 and ERC-721 movements, and the internal transactions tab shows transfers triggered by smart contract execution. The platform includes a Token Approvals tool accessible from the More menu that lists every contract with permission to spend tokens on behalf of the wallet. Etherscan also labels known addresses with visible tags for exchange hot wallets, bridge contracts, and flagged scam addresses, with the label system having identified thousands of phishing contracts and helped users avoid sending funds to malicious addresses. For enhanced security, users can verify contract addresses manually by copying from official announcements, pasting into trusted blockchain explorers like Etherscan, and ensuring token name, symbol, and decimals match official sources before confirming.
Contract verification is one of Etherscan's most important security features, where verified contracts display a green checkmark indicating the original source code has been uploaded and matches the deployed bytecode. According to Etherscan, users can read every function and verify that the contract does what the project claims. The platform provides tools for investigating token holder distribution, contract creation history, and transaction pattern analysis. Users can check the Holders tab to see token supply distribution across addresses, examine the contract creator address to see previous deployments, and analyze transaction history over time to reveal suspicious patterns. The Events tab shows every event emitted by contracts, with advanced users able to filter events by type for specific activity tracking. For added security, users can cross-check contract addresses across multiple trusted platforms, as discrepancies between sources often indicate fraudulent activity, and always navigate directly to official platforms via secure links to avoid phishing attempts. However, verification does not mean the token is automatically safe, as malicious contracts can still contain risky functions even with verified code.
Behind the web interface, Etherscan operates an API that serves over 500 million calls per day, providing programmatic access to the same data available on the website. As reported by Etherscan, free API accounts are limited to five calls per second, while paid plans increase rate limits and add features such as higher throughput, priority support, and access to archival data. The API serves as the backbone for many third-party tools including portfolio trackers, wallet interfaces, and DeFi dashboards. The platform's parent company Blockscan operates more than 30 blockchain explorers, including BscScan for BNB Chain, PolygonScan for Polygon, and Optimistic Etherscan for OP Mainnet, with a multichain search engine that allows users to search addresses across all supported chains simultaneously. For enhanced functionality, users can add custom networks manually by navigating to network management, entering required details like RPC URL, chain ID, and symbol, with the current build auto-detecting all Ethereum Layer 2s including Arbitrum and Optimism without manual RPC entry.
