Unit 1 · Level 1 · Block explorers
Review: open the ledger
Quick recap: the ledger is public and permanent, addresses are pseudonymous not anonymous, and an explorer is your window in. Search by hash, address, or block. Scan From/To/Value/Fee/Status first, then dig into internal transactions and event logs for the full story. Let's lock it in.
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What you get asked
What makes a public blockchain radically different from a bank's ledger?
Not speed, not size, but openness. One shared history that no institution can hide or quietly edit is the radical part.
A transaction marked 'Failed' still costs ___, because the network ran the computation anyway.
Failure doesn't refund the work. Seeing a wallet full of failed transactions that each burned gas is itself a clue: someone was fighting bots or misconfiguring trades.
Match each piece of a transaction page to what it tells you
Surface first, depths second: Value for the native coin, logs and internals for everything the contracts did underneath.
A friend says: 'Crypto is anonymous, nobody can see what I do.' What's the honest correction?
Pseudonymous, not anonymous. One link between an address and a person (an exchange account, a public donation) and the entire history is attributable.
The Crypto course taught you never to share a seed phrase. Which of these IS safe to share?
The address is the public half by design, and sharing it reveals nothing an explorer doesn't already show. Keys and seed phrases stay secret, forever, no exceptions. 🐜
The rest of this unit
The whole ledger is public. Learn to open it and read it.