NEAR Protocol, a new-gen blockchain network that pioneered sharding concept, was the first crypto network to be equipped with a feature-rich explorer by GetBlock. Here’s how Web3 users can leverage its tooling - and what is next for GetBlock.
NEAR Blockchain Explorer by GetBlock: Introduction
NEAR explorer release is one of the crucial milestones GetBlock smashed through in 2022. New product is designed to address the UX challenges of the NEAR community and to introduce the blockchain to a new generation of users and builders.
- Blockchain explorer is a software service designed to observe transactions, blocks, validators, accounts and other elements of decentralized systems;
- Launched in mainnet in 2020, NEAR decentralized network (or NEAR) is a first-ever mainstream decentralized system with sharding used for dApps including DeFis, NFT marketplaces, wallets, and so on.
- GetBlock, a Tier-1 nodes APIs service, started creating them in Q1, 2022: NEAR Protocol explorer was its inaugural release;
- With such a tool by GetBlock, NEAR users are able to check the validity of this or that transactions, the balance of a given account, the details of a certain block, the status of validators and so on;
- NEAR Protocol blockchain explorer is leveraged by traders, analysts and average crypto users as an instrument to get the information about the internal processes in cryptocurrencies in a human-readable form.
As such, NEAR Protocol blockchain explorer by GetBlock is a go-to instrument for everyone browsing NEAR infrastructure with no regard to his/her previous skills in cryptocurrency, trading, engineering, and so on.
What is a blockchain explorer?
Blockchain explorer is a software designed to visualize the operations and objects in blockchains in a human-readable manner. That said, they demonstrate the details of blocks, accounts, transactions details as well as net hashrate, mining difficulty, average fees for some networks.
Technically, the services work like search engines for decentralized systems: they transform raw data about the transactions validation process into human-readable messages. Blockchain browsers, therefore, are set to allow crypto users with no coding skills to get verified information from this or that system.
It should also be noticed that systems of this type can recover the full information about this or that object in crypto with only one piece of data. Namely, with a transaction hash, the users of crypto can recover the data about the amount of this transaction, its sender and recipient, transactional fees and timeline of its validation.
Also, the hash can be used as an equivalent for cash receipt: if a transaction happens, it becomes visible. Hacking blockchain explorers is incredibly difficult, so their data can be considered tamper-proof.
What is the NEAR Protocol blockchain?
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) is a programmatic blockchain (smart contracts hosting platform) that was launched in mainnet in 2020. Initially, it was introduced as the Near.ai platform by veteran engineers Illia Polosukhin and Alexander Skidanov. NEAR employs Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism; its tokenomics is underpinned by eponymous cryptocurrency NEAR.
NEAR merges the benefits of Doomslug block generation scheme and Nightshade sharding design. Sharded networks represent ecosystems of interconnected chains; that said, NEAR’s sharding is its own way to scale horizontally in a more resource-efficient way.
By Q4, 2022, NEAR managed to create a vibrant and thriving ecosystem of decentralized applications of various types. As per the DappRadar tracker, over 50 applications are active on the top of NEAR. Move-to-earn ecosystem Sweat Economy, Ref Finance decentralized exchange and MetaPool DeFi (liquid staking platform) are three most popular on-chain tools that run on the top of NEAR.
How to use NEAR blockchain explorer by GetBlock?
Since its launch in Q1, 2022, GetBlock NEAR Protocol Explorer has always prioritized intuitive design, user-friendly interface and feature-rich toolkit. As such, traders and crypto enthusiasts can use it to browse through NEAR Blockchain and derive valuable insights.
NEAR Protocol Blocks
For instance, trader Alice is aware that the unusual network activity was registered in NEAR on block #79098862. Thus, she decides to use NEAR explorer to know everything about the operations in NEAR that were included in this block.
Alice just needs to proceed to ‘Blocks’ tab and search for #79098862 block. In a click, Alice can find that the block was added on Nov.23, 2022 at 19:30 UTC and included only three transactions associated with Sweat Economy app and Near Crowd protocol.
NEAR Protocol Transactions
Move-to-earn enthusiast Bob decides to check whether the transaction from Sweat Economy app is legitimate - or he is targeted by scammers. He only knows the transaction hash 6zvQgQnk3F5kWR3k2jz6igEoEdLpY5vgtEA2vUtKfRAF. As such, he needs to paste it into the search bar and start a search engine of NEAR Protocol blockchain explorer.
As displayed above, Bob can be sure that this transaction truly came from Sweat’s smart contract - our service labels it as ‘Sweat Welcome’.
NEAR Protocol Validators
Experienced staker Carol decided to check the activity of one of the largest validators in NEAR ecosystem, Binance's one binancenode1.poolv1.near. She needs to do the same: input all information she has to the ‘Search’ field of NEAR Protocol blockchain explorer.
As a result, the entire information about binancenode1.poolv1.near stake, delegators it is backed by, and so on. As displayed above, binancenode1.poolv1.near is responsible for 14 mln staked NEAR coins.
NEAR Mainnet Accounts
Last but not least, GetBlock NEAR Blockchain explorer allows its users to check the details of balance and activity of this or that account. For instance, David is interested in last transactions authorized by Alex Skidanov, a founder of NEAR Blockchain. David only knows that Mr. Skidanov uses ‘alex.near’ as his alias, a human-readable form of NEAR account address.
David inputs this data, clicks ‘Search’ and sees the balance, latest transactions, and account details of Alex Skidanov.
Final thoughts
That’s it: now you know how to use NEAR explorer by GetBlock. With its instruments you can advance your understanding of cryptocurrency markets and make DeFi operations more transparent and visible.
