It is a great pleasure to participate in the task 2 of the beginner's course. Professor @yousafharoonkhan taught the course "Blockchain, Decentralization, Block explorer" very well. I must confess that I enjoyed every bit of the course. He has not only taught the course, but has also taught it a very simple way that everybody can understand. Prof, thank you.

At the end of the lecture, Prof. gave three questions in which anybody that wants to participate in the homework is expected to answer just one out of the three questions. I have chosen question number three (3) which is the heading of this homework. The question reads:

What is a block explorer? And what is its purpose and use? Search for different cryptocurrency block explorers and list them below. At least five different crypto currencies. Also explore the transaction of a crypto coin on block explorer and explain with the help of screenshot.

I chose question three because I want to practically explore the block. I have decided to separate the question into three parts.

1. What is a block explorer? And what is its purpose and use?
2. Search for different cryptocurrency block explorers and list them below. At least five different crypto currencies.
3. Also explore the transaction of a crypto coin on block explorer and explain with the help of screenshot.

So, I will be answering these questions accordingly.

1. WHAT IS A BLOCK EXPLORER? AND WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE AND USE?

BLOCK EXPLORER

To understand what block explorer is, there is a need to understand what block is. A Block in a block chain is place where all information related to transactions are stored. It is like a file where details are stored. It is also like a book where data that has to do with a particular cryptocurrency's network are stored. A block, when the data is full, a new one is created and the previous block can be linked to the new one.
They are linked in form of chain, thus a block chain is formed.

Thus a block explorer is an application or tool designed to view information related to transactions of a particular cryptocurrency. In a block explorer, every transaction performed in the past by each wallet can be seen. It is pertinent to know that it can only be view or seen, but cannot be edited. One cannot add to it or remove it. All information is visible to everyone.

PURPOSE AND USES

Block explorer provides a useful information of all the past transaction. For example, we can know where a transaction is coming from. I.e a particular wallet that initiated a transaction. Block explorer will tell us when the transaction takes place, how much coin is sent or received and many more information that is clear and visible to everyone are shown on block explorer.

Block explorer also shows data or features related to block. It shows recent activities of mining. Genesis block, which is like the mother of all blocks, a block in which all other blocks are laid, is seen and can be explored. Information related to when it was first mined, the person that mined it and other information or data can be explored on a block explorer of a cryptocurrency.

2. SEARCH FOR DIFFERENT CRYPTOCURRENCY BLOCK EXPLORERS AND LIST THEM BELOW. AT LEAST FIVE DIFFERENT CRYPTO CURRENCIES.

Below are six Cryptocurrencies block explorer I have taken time to search.

Ethereum Block Explorer

✓ Esthercan
✓ Blockchair
✓Explorer
✓Live.blockcypher
✓ Etherchain

Litecoin Block Explorer

✓ Live.blockcypher
✓ Blockchair
✓ Chainz.cryptoid
✓ litecoinblockexplorer

Stellar Lumen Block Explorer

✓ Stellarscan
✓Blockchair
✓Stellar.expert

Monero Block Explorer

✓ Blockchair
✓ Xmrchain
✓ Localmonero

Binance Block Explorer

✓ Bscscan
✓ Binance.mintscan

Steem Block Explorer

✓ Steem block explorer
✓ Steemscan
✓ Cryptoground

3. ALSO EXPLORE THE TRANSACTION OF A CRYPTO COIN ON BLOCK EXPLORER AND EXPLAIN WITH THE HELP OF SCREENSHOT

As mentioned earlier, block explorer is a tool where all transactions history can be seen and viewed. So for this question 3, I will like to take Steem coin as an example of the cryptocurrency and explore one of it's block explorer tools. Therefore, I have decided to take steemcan

Exploring the Transaction of Steem Coin using Steemcan

Below is the step by step on how we can explore this.

STEP 1

The first step is to know what the coin you want to explore is all about and to know different block explorer tools that are available to perform the function you want to do, which is transaction is this case.
So, we can use search engine to know different block explorer.
Below is the screenshot of different explorer we can use to explore steem coin transaction.

As it can be seen in the screenshot, I typed "Steem coin block explorer" on the search box and it brought three different steem block explorer. They are:
• Steem Block explore
• Steemcan
• Cryptoground
Now, out of these three tools, I have decided to pick "Steemscan"

STEP 2

The next step is to click on the Steemscan and it will direct us to the main website of the steescan which is the tool I'm using to explore the transaction of Steem coin.
Clicking on this (Steemscan) from Google, it shows this.

There are many things we can explore on this Steemscan. Some of these things are: latest block, current price of the coin, supply, volume, transactions etc.
But for the purpose of this question, we are only interested in exploring the transaction.

STEP 3

The next step is to search for a username which we can view his transaction. Now in the search box, I put 'msquaretk' which is my username. I want to explore the latest transaction on my account. See the screenshot below

STEP 4

After clicking the search button, it will display a page where we can access the transaction we are interested in viewing.
The page displays this:

As it can be seen in the screenshot, we can see 'Account' which is my account, "msquaretk." See the portion in a green rectangular box.
Also, the area in red rectangular box shows some important parameters which are very important. The features such as, voting power, Upvote value, effective SP, Balance (Steem), Balance (SBD).
Below the red box, is a rectangular box in blue color which shows profile, wallet and saving.

Now, let see the transaction on this account. i.e. on my account, @msquartk. Right below the features highlighted above are the transaction history. The screenshot below shows these transactions.

As it can be seen from this screenshot, the latest transaction occurred around 10:08am on the 17th July, 2021. The type of transaction that occurred is curation reward which came to me as a result of voting a content and earned me 0.001SP.

Now, if we click on the block ID, we will see some features which are very important.
Below is the screenshot of the what it displays after clicking on the the "block ID"

The block number is 55556867
The block ID is 034fbb03e924e7fa7006ad6ad31549ba95adee8a
We can also see the previous block and the new block

CONCLUSION

Blockchain is a place or chains of block in which all information related to a cryptocurrency are stored. Blockchain is a decentralized system which is not controlled by a single person or by government. It is controlled by every single individual. i.e every person is a decision maker. We can save any kind of information on blockchain which can be viewed and verified by anybody across the globe.

Blockchain technology has been found useful in all aspect of life. The Technology, blockchain technology came into existence as a result of the first block mined (Bitcoin Genesis block) some years ago.

Block explore is a tool for accessing the information on a cryptocurrency. Information related to transactions, price of the coin, market value, supply and volume etc. can be viewed and explored on block explorer.