Blockstream Explorer

Start with the payment’s transaction ID, an address or a block height. A transaction result shows whether the payment is still unconfirmed, its confirmations once mined, and the inputs and outputs that explain where the coins came from and went. Check the recipient output rather than assuming every output is another payment: some may be change returned to the sender.

For a fee question, compare the total miner fee with the rate in satoshis per virtual byte, a measure of transaction size. For an ownership question, follow the output’s spending link. This lets you trace whether that particular output has subsequently been used, rather than only looking at an address’s current balance.

Advanced inspection exposes transaction scripts, their readable assembly form and witness data. This is useful when a developer needs more than a wallet’s short receipt. The interface also covers Liquid transactions, including asset issuance and transfers between Bitcoin and Liquid. Confidential Liquid amounts are not automatically revealed by a public explorer.

The public website requires neither payment nor an account. Esplora’s code has an MIT license, and its documented API provides structured data for other software. Address-history queries return bounded pages, so an application must continue through the older pages when it needs a complete history.

The display refreshes selected data periodically while the page is active. An apparently unchanged screen is therefore not a promise that no new network activity has occurred. Keep the distinction between an explorer record and the receiving service’s own deposit-crediting process.