When it comes to blockchain development, Ethereum remains the main network for dApp development. However, Ethereum’s high gas fees have made developers and users look elsewhere for a better alternative. This is opening up opportunities for other chains to position themselves as attractive alternatives. One blockchain doing this is Binance Smart Chain (BSC), touting low fees and relatively quick transaction times. Moreover, BscScan is a common tool for BSC development.
BSC offers a high level of security, scalability, and of course, low transaction fees. Whether you’re a developer looking to build Web3 applications on Binance Smart Chain or an everyday BSC user, you should learn about BscScan. This blockchain explorer offers vast amounts of useful information regarding addresses, smart contracts, transactions, and much more. In this guide, we’ll go through what BscScan is, how to use it to find BSC information regarding e.g. NFTs, and how developers can explore BscScan and utilize its provided documentation. So, follow along as we dive deeper into this full guide as we go on exploring BscScan. Best of all, using BscScan is an excellent complement to developing your dApps using Moralis – the premier blockchain middleware!
Just like building on Ethereum, building on BSC can be a time-consuming task. For example, building the backend infrastructure is particularly resource-intensive. The quickest way to prototype, develop and deploy BSC dApps is through Moralis. This Web3 development platform helps you deliver dApps quickly and easily as you can devote your maximum attention to frontend programming. In addition, knowing your way around BscScan can help you access specific information related to Binance Smart Chain to use during development and testing. Therefore, using the information offered herein about BscScan and combining it with the power of Moralis will take your BSC programming knowledge to the next level.
What is BscScan?
So, what is BscScan? This is easy to explain if you’re familiar with a tool called “Etherscan”. Basically, as Etherscan for the Ethereum chain, BscScan works for the Binance Chain ecosystem. Furthermore, BscScan is a block explorer and analytical platform available for free to anyone with internet access. It enables users to look up all transactions taking place on Binance Smart Chain with ease. However, you can find so much more than just transactions with BscScan. Its navigation menu and thus the list of options that BscScan offers are quite extensive.
Furthermore, BscScan was created by the same team as Etherscan, so it’s no surprise that both platforms have similar interfaces. The UI is clean and basic (without unnecessary “bells and whistles”) to ensure that everyone can access them. Moreover, BscScan strives to offer more and more functionality. For instance, it recently added a “Yield Farm” feature, which informs users of recently launched yield farm platforms on Binance Smart Chain. This, together with its “DEX Tracker”, is just one of many new features just added to BscScan recently.
While creating an account on BscScan is not a requirement for gaining access, doing so can be beneficial, especially for developers. That way, you can set up your preferences and save them for future use. Furthermore, BscScan does allow users to connect supported wallets (MetaMask, TrustWallet, etc.). However, please note that BscScan is not a “wallet service”.
Exploring BscScan
You’re about to learn how to make the most out of the BscScan platform. We’ll show you how to find transactions, token addresses, validator leaderboard, how to search by transaction ID, and much more.
We should start by mentioning that BscScan provides information for both BSC’s mainnet and testnet. Moreover, switching between the two networks is straightforward. When visiting the official BscScan website, you’ll land on the mainnet explorer. In case you want to explore the testnet, click the Binance icon located at the top on the right-hand side of the menu bar. Then select the “BSC Testnet” option from the drop-down menu as seen in the following image:
Furthermore, to switch back from the testnet to the mainnet, navigate yourself to the same space as before where the Binance icon was; however, in this case, a testnet button will appear instead of the Binance icon.
BscScan Menu
Before diving into further details, let’s do a quick overview of the BscScan menu. It contains the following items:
- Home – Takes you to the homepage of BscScan.
- Blockchain – This is where you can find all on-chain data for BSC. It includes multiple options:
- Top Accounts – Gives you insight into which accounts hold the most BNB and the amount of BNB they contain.
- View Txns – This is where you view transactions, also known as “txns”, on BSC.
- View Pending Txns – Only pending transactions are displayed here. Use this option if you are looking for a transaction not validated yet.
- View Contract Internal Txns – This is where you see transactions between smart contracts.
- Blocks – This is where you view validated blocks.
- Forked Block – This is where you can see excluded blocks as a result of “chain reorganizations”.
- Verified Contracts – Here, you can view smart contracts on BSC with verified source codes.
- Validators – Validators enable transactions on BSC. These are users/computers that run nodes and stake large amounts of BNB tokens (other validator criteria exist). Using this option, you get to see:
- Validators Leaderboard.
- View Validators Set Info.
- Tokens – Here, you access details about tokens compatible with BSC. BscScan offers you several options:
- BEP-20 Tokens By Market Cap – BEP-20 is the standard for tokens created on BSC (following the ERC-20 example).
- BEP-20 Tokens By Volume.
- View BEP-20 Transfers.
- ERC-721 Top Tokens – ERC-721 is a standard for NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and you can view NFTs here.
- View ERC-721 Transfers.
- Resources.
- Charts & Stats.
- Top Statistics.
- Developer APIs.
- Yield Farms List.
- More – This is where more advanced options can be found, including API documentation.
BscScan Search Bar
Accessing a specific part of the BscScan platform via the above menu options can be of great use; however, the true power lies in the BscScan’s search bar. Whenever you have an address, transaction hash, block number, or token (name or ticker), you can enter it in the search bar and hit enter.
Moreover, the search bar offers several filters (as displayed in the image above). That way, you can limit your search to a particular area of interest. All-in-all, when looking for something particular, it turns out that the search bar is the best way to go.
Knowing your way around the BscScan menu, and being able to use its search bar accordingly, is essentially all you need to access Binance Smart Chain’s data. Thus, using the information obtained so far, you might as well start your development journey and create BSC dApps. To help you get started, we recommend checking out our guide to BSC programming. However, in case you’re interested in learning more details about specific functionalities of BscScan, continue on with the following sections.
How to Find Transactions on BscScan
Using BscScan to find specific transactions is one of its main use cases, and it is done in the same manner as with most other block explorers. Moreover, there are several ways you can find transactions depending on which information is available to you. You can find a specific transaction using its ID (transaction hash) or any wallet address involved in that transaction. By entering any of these details in the search bar (as presented in the previous section), BscScan will return all details regarding that transaction. As such, you’ll be able to see the transaction amount, block number, date, transaction fee, status, and addresses involved in the transaction. Here’s how the “Transaction Details” page looks like:
Furthermore, the most common way to search for a transaction is by using the transaction hash. Aside from using the search box on the homepage, you can find transactions by clicking on “Blockchain” and then “View Tnxs”. If you’d like to view a pending transaction, click on “Blockchain” and then “View Pending Tnxs”. On each of these specific pages, you’ll also have the search bar available at the top.
In case you don’t have the transaction hash, you may use any of the two involved addresses. Moreover, you could also use a block number; however, users rarely use that piece of information.
Once you’re able to use BscScan to find transactions, you should have no problem searching for other details. The principles are the same – use the search bar on the homepage or navigate to the relevant page using the top menu.
BscScan and Developers
As mentioned previously, BscScan has a designated set of pages devoted to developers. Those can be accessed via the main menu, which you’ll find under the “Developers” section after clicking on “More”. These pages cover the following options:
- API Documentation – This is set in place to empower developers with direct access to BscScan’s block explorer data and services via GET/POST requests.
- Verify Contract – This option provides transparency for users interacting with smart contracts. By uploading the source code, BscScan matches the compiled code with that on the blockchain. To complete the validation process, you need to enter the smart contract’s address and select the compiler and open source license type.
- Byte to Opcode – This option offers you an online decoding tool that attempts to decode the low-level contract bytecodes to opcode.
- Broadcast TXN – By pasting a signed raw transaction in hex format (characters 0-9, a-f), this page enables you to broadcast it over Binance’s network.
- Vyper Online Compiler – This page compiles Vyper source code and outputs the ABI, bytecode, and runtime bytecode.
- Contract Diff Checker – This page lets you compare two contracts by entering their addresses.
BscScan and NFTs
If you went through the “BscScan Menu” section earlier, you know that BscScan also enables you to find details about tokens, both fungible and non-fungible (such as ERC-721). As far as the fungible tokens go, you can obtain basically all of the related data. However, since NFTs come with a particular file, often in the JPG format, BscScan is not able to depict those files. While you may not be able to see the NFT file using BscScan, it does provide you with other NFT details, including its ID, NFT project, token’s transaction history, and its interaction with the smart contract. Here’s an NFT example as shown by BscScan:
Note: BscScan refers to NFTs as ERC-721, which is the NFT standard on Ethereum. However, NFTs on Binance Smart Chain actually follow the BEP-721 standard. You will see this indicated next to the “overview” table (see the image above).
Moralis and BSC Programming
If you’re serious about developing on Binance Smart Chain, knowing your way around BscScan can benefit you. However, knowing this is by no means essential to becoming a BSC developer. If you use Moralis, you can start creating decentralized applications on BSC without being familiar with BscScan. Thanks to Moralis’ SDK, you get access to all essential on-chain data by simply using short snippets of code provided inside Moralis’ documentation. You basically only need to know JavaScript and how to use MetaMask. Once you complete the initial setup (sign up/log in to your Moralis account, create your server, and initiate Moralis’ SDK), you can easily build BSC dApps. Best of all, Moralis’ NFT API makes NFT development easier than ever!
Moreover, we strongly recommend that you start your journey with Moralis and BSC programming by taking on some interesting and simple example projects. You can find some of these guides either on Moralis’ blog or Moralis’ YouTube channel.
Here are two of our most popular BSC programming example projects:
Exploring BscScan – Full Guide: Summary
Aside from Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain is the “runner-up” for deploying decentralized applications. Moreover, it also hosts a great number of BEP-20 tokens and BEP-721 NFTs. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that many transactions take place on top of this Ethereum-forked chain. As such, there is a high demand for a reliable BSC block explorer, and this is where BscScan comes into the picture.
Aside from offering details regarding BSC transactions, tokens, and wallet details, it also provides developers with some useful resources. So, every BSC user, especially developers, may be interested in knowing their way around BscScan. Furthermore, using the information in this article, you should be able to cover all your basic needs when it comes to obtaining BSC transactions, tokens, and wallet details. Moralis allows you to effortlessly access the BEP20 testnet. Additionally, Moralis provides an “Infura for BSC” alternative – along with so much more!
By creating your free Moralis account, you can speed up your Web3 development process markedly quicker. With Moralis, you can many times cover all your backend coding by copying and pasting single lines of code. As such, the otherwise time-consuming and cumbersome development process becomes easy, enabling you to create and launch dApps in record time. So, sign up with Moralis, take on one of the recommended example projects today and see how Moralis makes blockchain development feel like a breeze! If you’ve enjoyed this guide, make sure to check out Moralis’ blog for more high-value content so you can expand your blockchain knowledge even more.
