It looks very basic without bitcoin addresses on main page and without extra features we have today, but it was useful back in the days.
- theymos initially launched the Block explorer as a close source, and told that he maybe make the code public later which never happened.
- He run it for a long time till 2012 not sure because theymos announced the new domain in 2010, but Wayback machine shows it in 2012 when he switched the domain to blockexplorer.com [1], before selling it around Feb 2013 to Liraz.org. The owner of Liraz site is Lira Siri (Twitter/ X). His account on Bitcointalk is liraz.
- Lira Siri runs the Bitcoin block explorer for a while until May or June 2020 before made some change and later turned it to Joseon Explorer
- Source of the information
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20120308072440/http://blockexplorer.com/
Some screenshots for above information.
Blockchain.info possibly a second Bitcoin block explorer in history.
It was run by piuk. Blockchain.info - Bitcoin Block explorer & Currency Statistics (announced in August 2011).