Updated: May 2026 | Originally published: 20 July 2022
Etherscan is a blockchain explorer that helps users track, verify, and understand activity on Ethereum and other EVM-compatible networks. It lets you check transactions, wallet balances, smart contracts, tokens, gas fees, and security signals in one place. Whether you are sending ETH, reviewing a wallet, checking a token, or verifying a contract, Etherscan makes on-chain data easier to read and safer to act on.
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- Etherscan is a free blockchain explorer that lets you track wallets, transactions, gas fees, smart contracts, and ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum network and 60+ other chains.
- In 2025, Etherscan added wallet AML Risk Scores, Chainabuse scam reports, EVM decompiler, and cross-chain transaction visibility directly on address pages.
- You do not need an account to use most features, but registering unlocks alerts, watchlists, and developer API tools.
- Always check a smart contract on Etherscan before approving it in your wallet. If the source code is unverified, treat it as a red flag.
What Is Etherscan?
Etherscan is a blockchain explorer for the Ethereum network. Think of it as a public ledger reader: every transaction, wallet balance, token transfer, and smart contract interaction that happens on Ethereum is recorded on-chain, and Etherscan makes all of it readable in plain language.
It was built independently by a team of developers and operates completely separately from the Ethereum Foundation. The platform now attracts roughly 6 million monthly visitors and has expanded well beyond Ethereum, processing over a billion API calls per day across supported networks.
Ethereum remains the backbone of DeFi, NFTs, and smart contracts, making Etherscan the go-to verification tool for anyone interacting with the Ethereum ecosystem.
Why Should You Use Etherscan?
Transparency is one of crypto’s biggest advantages, but that transparency is only useful if you know how to read it. Etherscan bridges that gap.
Here is what you can do with it, no account needed:
- Check any wallet’s ETH balance and full transaction history
- Verify whether a smart contract’s source code has been audited
- Track gas prices in real time to time your transactions better
- Look up any ERC-20 token’s market cap, holder count, and transfers
- Identify suspicious contracts before interacting with them
- Monitor whale wallets to spot large on-chain movements
From 2024 and into 2025, Etherscan also added a Cards system on address pages. These are third-party integrations that surface extra information directly in the explorer, including airdrop claimables, token approvals, and security scores from trusted providers. In 2025 alone, nine new Cards were added, including a Wallet AML Risk Score and Chainabuse Scam Reports.
How to Use Etherscan: Key Features Explained
#1 Gas Tracker
Gas is the transaction fee paid on the Ethereum network. It fluctuates based on how busy the network is, sometimes dramatically. The Etherscan Gas Tracker shows you real-time gas prices at three speed levels: slow, standard, and fast, along with estimated confirmation times.
Practical tip: if your transaction is not time-sensitive, check the gas tracker on a weekend or late at night when network traffic tends to be lower. Most wallets let you set a custom gas price before you submit.
#2 Track Any Wallet’s Balance and History
Paste any public wallet address into the Etherscan search bar and you will see the complete picture: current ETH balance, every inbound and outbound transaction, token holdings, and even NFTs held. You can also view how the balance has changed over time using the Analytics tab.
This is particularly useful for tracking whale wallets. Large transfers from cold wallets to exchanges can sometimes signal upcoming selling pressure, though this alone should never drive a trading decision.
#3 Look Up a Transaction
Every Ethereum transaction has a unique hash, sometimes called a Transaction ID or Txn Hash. Paste this into Etherscan to see its exact status: confirmed, pending, or failed. You will also see the sender, receiver, amount, gas fee paid, and the block it was added to.
If a transfer from a friend or exchange seems to be “stuck,” looking up the transaction hash on Etherscan will tell you exactly what is happening.
#4 Smart Contracts: Read, Verify, and Stay Safe
Smart contracts power nearly every DeFi protocol, NFT project, and token launch on Ethereum. Etherscan lets you read a contract’s code directly and check whether the source code has been verified and published.
Look for the green checkmark next to “Contract” on an address page. Verified source code means a developer submitted it and it matched the deployed bytecode. Unverified contracts are a significant red flag.
What’s New? Etherscan now includes an EVM Decompiler Card and a Security State indicator on address pages. If a contract has been flagged as suspicious or has a delegated address via EIP-7702 (Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade), you will see a clear warning label at the top of the page.
#5 Cross-Chain Transactions (New in 2025)
As more users interact across multiple chains, Etherscan now surfaces cross-chain activity directly on address pages under the “Other Transactions” tab. You can track activity through supported bridges without leaving the explorer.
#6 Wallet AML Risk Score and Security Cards
Etherscan now integrates third-party security data directly on wallet pages. The Wallet AML Risk Score (powered by trusted partners) tells you whether a wallet has exposure to flagged or sanctioned addresses.
The tools are especially relevant for Indian crypto users as regulatory compliance around on-chain activity becomes more important.
Do You Need an Account?
No. Etherscan is free and open to use without registration. You can search wallets, transactions, tokens, and contracts without signing up.
That said, creating a free account unlocks several useful extras: custom alerts when a wallet receives or sends funds, personal watchlists to monitor multiple addresses, private transaction notes, and access to developer API keys.
One important note: since crypto has a degree of pseudonymity, registering on Etherscan does create a connection between your account identity and any wallet addresses you monitor. Some users prefer to keep this separate.
Etherscan Has Grown Way Beyond Ethereum
Etherscan has quietly become the infrastructure for blockchain exploration across the entire EVM ecosystem. Through its Explorer as a Service (EaaS) product, it now powers explorers for over 60 chains including Layer 2 networks like Base, Arbitrum, Linea, and Scroll.
In 2024, Etherscan launched API V2, which allows developers to access data from 60+ chains with a single API key. It also acquired Solscan, the leading explorer for the Solana ecosystem, signaling its ambition to cover the entire multi-chain landscape, not just Ethereum.
If you are exploring DeFi protocols across multiple chains, Etherscan (and its family of explorers) is likely already the data layer running underneath many of the apps you use.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Etherscan is a read-only explorer. It does not require your private keys or seed phrase. It simply reads publicly available data from the Ethereum blockchain and displays it in a readable format. Never share your private keys with any website, including Etherscan.
Absolutely. Etherscan supports all ERC-20 tokens, ERC-721 NFTs, ERC-1155 tokens, and other token standards built on Ethereum. You can also use it for activity on 60+ other EVM-compatible chains.
It means the contract’s source code has not been published and matched against the deployed bytecode. You cannot read what the contract actually does. This is a major red flag. Always verify a contract on Etherscan before approving it in your wallet or sending funds to it.
Not directly on etherscan.io, but through Etherscan’s EaaS infrastructure, there are dedicated explorers for most major Layer 2 networks: Polygonscan for Polygon, Arbiscan for Arbitrum, Basescan for Base, and many more. They all share the same interface and features as Etherscan.
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