Blockchain explorer in depth (IV): Blocks

In this fourth and last installment you will know all the information that Bit2Me Explorer puts at your fingertips to analyze the blocks that belong to the Bitcoin blockchain.

DAfter learning the first concepts about the Bitcoin block explorer Bit2Me Explorer, detailing the operation of checking and using the address page, it is time to talk about the block section of this same browser.

Any valid bitcoin transaction that is made will be permanently recorded on the network through the blocks. Each block specifically contains a reference of all these transactions. And at the same time, a reference to the block that came earlier. But how is this data interpreted in a blockchain explorer? What useful information does a bitcoin block explorer offer us? Let's check it out!

Data that Bit2Me Explorer offers us about Bitcoin blocks

General features

At first glance it may seem that we are dealing with a complicated interface to interpret, but it is not. In this new article in our guide we will explain part by part all the elements present in our bitcoin blocks explorer, Bit2Me Explorer. The design of this section follows the same pattern as that of the other functionalities of the service. We will separate the page into sections to clearly see all the information we will find.

For this particular point we will use block # 1 as an example, the genesis block Bitcoin mined by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. To go to the all we have to do is enter the number "1" in the Bit2Me Explorer search engine, give Enter.

Block Summary

The first thing we see is a summary with essential information, so you can find it instantly with a simple glance.

Let's formulate an example as users in the search engine of Bit2Me Explorer. We introduce the hash of a block, which would act as an identifier. In general, a hash is calculated twice, using hashes most of the time. SHA-256. However, the hash is also used RIPE MD-160 when we are looking for a shorter hash. An example of use of this last hash are the bitcoin addresses.

Example of a SHA-256 hash: 

00000000839a8e6886ab5951d76f411475428afc90947ee320161bbf18eb6048

The previous hash is the same hash of block # 1, that is, the unique and identifying hash that belongs to the genesis block.

We found that there are two ways to search for blocks in the explorer. The first is by using its height (like the initial case where we introduced the number "1"). And the second way is by using your SHA-256 hash. Both ways will give us the same result.

Elements that make up the summary of Bit2Me Explorer

Returning to the previous image we can see:

1. Number of Operations: Number 1 is an indicator. Here it shows us all the transactions processed in that block. In the case of genesis block There was only one transaction on the Bitcoin network, the first one carried out on the network.
2. Height: It refers to the block height within the blockchain. Here number 1 represents the block number in the network. In the case of the genesis block it corresponds to the first block of the network. Currently the height already exceeds 616 thousand blocks.
3. Date: In Bit2Me Explorer we use the scale of UNIX Time, in which the number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970 in UTC is taken. If you use a timestamp converter you will see that 1231469665 is equivalent to the date 2009-01-09 02:54:25. This is the instant the genesis block was mined. In the same way, this field gives us the full date and time it was resolved.
4. Receiving time: indicates the moment in which the network has received the block.
5. Retransmitted by: Generally it indicates the node that has transmitted the block to the others nodes. interconnected to the network.
6. Difficulty: The mining difficulty it is an index used to measure the difficulty of finding a block. At the beginning of Bitcoin the difficulty was 1, which is reflected in the image. And in its beginnings the difficulty was reduced since there were very few teams mining. Currently the difficulty has increased considerably and more and more mining farms and groups are bringing equipment to the network, so the difficulty tends to rise. The Bitcoin network has a global difficulty and valid blocks must have a hash below this target, which changes every 2.016 blocks.
7. Bits: Refers to the number of bits inside a bitcoin.
8. Block size- Measured in bytes, reflects the maximum limit that a block can include transactions. At the beginning of Bitcoin, there were not as many transactions as today. The maximum size of a block in Bitcoin is 1.000.000 bytes or 1 MB (although followed it allows blocks of up to 32 MB at its maximum).
9. Version: This number indicates the version of the protocol that the node in charge of mining this block is running. Here is the first version of Bitcoin shown: 1.
10. Nonce: The nuncio it is an arbitrary number that is used as the authentication protocol. It is a combination of numbers with the hash to avoid manipulation of the block information.
11. Block reward: Reflects the rewards generated by the network each time a new block is mined. Bitcoin initially gave a reward of 50 bitcoins per generated block, which has been decreasing by half every time a halving online approximately every 4 years. The current block reward is 12,5 bitcoins.

Information on transactions within a block

When we analyze a block in the Bitcoin block explorer bit2me explorer We can also see all the transactions processed in that block of the network. The transactions included in that block are shown here, in the same format as the transactions in one direction are shown.

These indicate the following data:

1. Transaction identifier: This is a SHA-256 hash used to identify the bitcoin transaction present on the network.
2. Confirmations: Shows the number of confirmations the block has received since mining. The number of commits corresponds to the number of blocks mined above the block. In this case, as the genesis block is the first block mined, the number of confirmations will be the number of mined blocks minus 1. In the case of another block, the number of confirmations will be equal to the number of blocks that are above that block. within the blockchain.
3. Date and Time: In which the transaction occurred within the network.
4. Appetizers: In the case of the mined genesis block, the entries were new coins in circulation.
5. Receiving address: The address receiving the funds. In the case of a common block like the one that can be mined while you are reading this article, we would be talking about the receiving address of the funds exchanged in a transaction included within a block.
6. Quantity: The amount of bitcoins transmitted in the transaction.

In conclusion, knowing all these details about blocks and their corresponding place within the block explorer, you can easily track the information you require.