A block explorer is a website for looking up public blockchain activity. You can use it to check whether a payment has been included in a block, inspect the receiving address and amount, or understand the network fee. This can help when you are waiting for a payment or want to understand a transaction shown in the BitBoxApp.

Start with the network used for the transaction. Our Bitcoin guide uses Mempool at mempool.space; our Ethereum guide uses Etherscan at etherscan.io. The guides explain both how to find a transaction and what its results mean.

Search for a transaction or an address?

Choose your starting point according to the question you want to answer. An address and a transaction ID are different public identifiers; neither gives access to spend funds.

If you know the receiving address but do not have the transaction ID, search for the address first. Find the expected payment in its history, then open that transaction to inspect its status and details. A past receipt and a current balance answer different questions: funds can arrive and later be spent.

Choose the guide for your network

• How to use Mempool to explore Bitcoin transactions: check a Bitcoin payment, understand confirmations, follow inputs and outputs, recognize possible change, and read fees and block estimates.
• How to use Etherscan to explore Ethereum transactions: check ETH and ERC-20 token transfers on Ethereum Mainnet, distinguish the token recipient from a contract address, and understand status and gas fees.

The network matters as much as the asset name. A token such as USDC can exist on several networks, and an Ethereum-style address beginning with 0x does not identify which one was used. Check the network in the sending wallet or exchange's withdrawal details. For another network, use that network's corresponding explorer; searching Ethereum Mainnet will not show a transfer made only on a different network.

An address with a zero balance on Ethereum Mainnet may still hold assets on another network. Etherscan also offers multichain information for supported networks, but that overview is not proof that every asset or network is covered. Use the explorer for the sending network to check a particular transfer.

What to have ready

For a specific payment, the most useful starting point is its transaction ID, also called a transaction hash. Copy the complete identifier from the sending wallet, the exchange's withdrawal record, or the BitBoxApp's transaction details. An exchange's internal order or withdrawal reference may be different from the blockchain transaction ID.

In the BitBoxApp, open the relevant account and the transaction's details. For help finding the identifier and available fields, see How to view transaction details in the BitBoxApp. If another service is sending the payment and has not provided a transaction ID, ask it which network it used and whether it has broadcast the transaction.

For an address lookup, use the full public receiving address from your wallet or the original payment instructions. A single Bitcoin address does not represent all the receiving and change addresses in a wallet. For Ethereum-compatible networks, the same wallet address can have different balances and activity on each network.

What an explorer can and cannot tell you

Explorers collect blockchain data and present it in a readable form. They may also show transactions they have seen that are waiting for block inclusion, fee estimates, and labels for known services. Those additions are the explorer's view or interpretation, rather than guarantees from the network.

A recorded transaction does not by itself prove that an exchange has credited your account, that a token is genuine, or that an address belongs to the person you intended to pay. You still need to check the correct network, asset, receiving address, amount, and transaction result. Confirmation estimates can change, and a missing result from one explorer does not prove that a payment was canceled.

An explorer cannot recover wallet secrets or reverse a confirmed payment. The lookups described in these guides require no wallet connection, device confirmation, signature, or payment.

Protect your privacy when looking up a payment

A public explorer receives the address or transaction you search for and may receive network information such as your IP address. Sharing an explorer link can also reveal amounts, related addresses, and other financial activity. Share it only with people or services that need it.