before blockchain explorer, there was no collective need for people to look at someone's addresses as well as their balances, bitcoin's not that big back then, nor was it relevant for people to waste time coding something to track addresses and balances. Of course as time went by the need became real and people started asking for a blockchain explorer. if I'm not mistaken it was blockchain.info that made the first blockchain explorer out there and I'm not sure if they are still around, but regardless.
Although scouring through this thread I found out that Theymos was actually the first guy to create a blockchain explorer, goes to show how invested the madlad is about bitcoin.
Topic: What they used before Blockchain Explorer? - page 2. (Read 293 times)
Bitcoin was (almost) worthless at that time so it's hard to talk about any trust. We're talking about times when anyone could get 5 btc from the faucet and many didn't even bother to claim that.
That's why there's no blockchain explorer that is created at that time because of Bitcoin almost worthless at that time since it's not that long from the day Bitcoin was created until many people are using Bitcoin. That's the time where a decision was made which is to create a blockchain explorer which is very useful until now. Well, I have been using blockchain explorer before but I mostly use mempool.space now since you can also see the fee that are being used. 
Before the first block explorer was developed, Bitcoin community consisted almost entirely of highly skilled enthusiast who could analyse the raw data without BE. e.g. they could spot and fix anomalies like this one.
Bitcoin was (almost) worthless at that time so it's hard to talk about any trust. We're talking about times when anyone could get 5 btc from the faucet and many didn't even bother to claim that.
(...) Well, if that's true then how it is possible for people to trust on BTC at start (...)
Bitcoin was (almost) worthless at that time so it's hard to talk about any trust. We're talking about times when anyone could get 5 btc from the faucet and many didn't even bother to claim that.
@ranochigo Thanks for pointing it out that @theymos was the first to build an explorer. I checked the thread and it seems that Website is long gone. The full fledge explorer was built by blockchain only (it seems like that). But obviously High respect to @theymos for building it.
@Faissal2202 I am also surprised to see the answer and know more historical aspect of explorer. I thought when Merkel designed the blockchain very first we were able to see the data over public ledger. However, it seems that was different interface as compared to what we experience today.
I think people are more keen on having confirmations through the explorers now. Initially it seems very smooth. It was actual privacy by the way.
@Faissal2202 I am also surprised to see the answer and know more historical aspect of explorer. I thought when Merkel designed the blockchain very first we were able to see the data over public ledger. However, it seems that was different interface as compared to what we experience today.
I think people are more keen on having confirmations through the explorers now. Initially it seems very smooth. It was actual privacy by the way.
I just came to know that before 2010 there was nor explorer to see the status of any transaction! I mean really. Because if the Blockchain explorer of theymos is the first one then that thread is also made in 2010 and BTC was originated in 2009. Well, if that's true then how it is possible for people to trust on BTC at start and even in the early days there was a IP option available too to send and receive the funds.
Thanks for pointing out this new set of information for me, because if you had not asked this question then ranochigo might not have answered it. Well, it indicated every project even BTC took one year to make huge developments. I know taproot, Lightening network and now this ordinal things are also huge developments and God knows what types of developments are we going to see in upcoming years. But point is, Good things do take some time and i really appreciate those who have held BTC for that long period because if i were at that time found no explorer then i would not trust the system.
Thanks for pointing out this new set of information for me, because if you had not asked this question then ranochigo might not have answered it. Well, it indicated every project even BTC took one year to make huge developments. I know taproot, Lightening network and now this ordinal things are also huge developments and God knows what types of developments are we going to see in upcoming years. But point is, Good things do take some time and i really appreciate those who have held BTC for that long period because if i were at that time found no explorer then i would not trust the system.
Blockchain.com wasn't the one who built the first blockexplorer. By the way, they were known as Blockchain.info prior to that. You are right; no one actually needed to see the balance of someone else's address and most of the information that you see on the blockexplorers are not essential to most.
The first blockexplorer was actually created by theymos: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitcoin-block-explorer-1727. This was before blockexplorer.com and it led to the creation of that which was a lot more polished and with more detailed information.
The first blockexplorer was actually created by theymos: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitcoin-block-explorer-1727. This was before blockexplorer.com and it led to the creation of that which was a lot more polished and with more detailed information.
I am so confused after reading an About us text from the official website of Blockchain.com
As per their claim they stand out to be one of the first to build a blockchain explorer in the year 2011 and I wonder that is how they got hold of the Premium website domain name with Blockchain in it. If as per the Blockchain.com they were the first to build then what was before 2011 and after 2009?
Did we just transacted before that with peer to peer approach and waited for the Bitcoin to appear in our wallets?
I tried to search over the internet with key words
"worlds oldest blockchain explorer"
"first blockchain explorer"
"blockchain explorer beginning"
but all of them are just pointing me towards how blockchain started in the old days. All of them are referring me to how it started with Merkle who coined the whole concept as early as in 1979 through his "tree authentication" in his 1979 Ph.D. thesis for Stanford University.
After searching more there is evidence of Blockchain getting mentioned in the New York Times news paper published in the year 1995. But that was just regarding the talks about how we can cryptographically seal the digital documents.
A cool pic to look at from the old era:
As per their claim they stand out to be one of the first to build a blockchain explorer in the year 2011 and I wonder that is how they got hold of the Premium website domain name with Blockchain in it. If as per the Blockchain.com they were the first to build then what was before 2011 and after 2009?
Did we just transacted before that with peer to peer approach and waited for the Bitcoin to appear in our wallets?
Quote
Blockchain.com got its start as an early pioneer of key infrastructure for the bitcoin community. First, with a Blockchain Explorer that enabled anyone to not only examine transactions and study the blockchain, but an API that enabled companies to build on Bitcoin. We also have provided the most popular and widely used crypto wallet that enables anyone anywhere to control their own money.
I tried to search over the internet with key words
"worlds oldest blockchain explorer"
"first blockchain explorer"
"blockchain explorer beginning"
but all of them are just pointing me towards how blockchain started in the old days. All of them are referring me to how it started with Merkle who coined the whole concept as early as in 1979 through his "tree authentication" in his 1979 Ph.D. thesis for Stanford University.
After searching more there is evidence of Blockchain getting mentioned in the New York Times news paper published in the year 1995. But that was just regarding the talks about how we can cryptographically seal the digital documents.
A cool pic to look at from the old era:
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