XRPLORE: XRPSCAN
For this edition of XRPLORE, I am thrilled to cover XRPSCAN, a clean and and very intuitive block explorer for the XRP Ledger released on BETA in October 2018. Personally, I really like XRPSCAN's UX as it offers the unique advantage of “speaking the same language” as other legacy block explorers of other cryptocurrencies, making it appealing for users who are already familiar with these.
Before I jump into the details, I would like to thank XRPSCAN for having completed the verification process on One More Home's XRPL address which was activated last month, as it gives reassurance to the community that this is the address belonging to the project:
Home Page
As you land on the home page of xrpscan.com, the first thing to notice is the main set of live statistics displayed on the upper section of the page, including ledger closed (you can see it ticking), along with key daily stats (payments count, total transaction figures, accounts created) and current ledger closure and transaction times.
Right underneath of the stats bar, there are three sections: Validated Ledgers, Validators and XRPL Stats.
Validated Ledgers
The validated ledgers section offers a fantastic view of the sequence of the last ledgers closed and interestingly, a view of the destroyed XRP in each ledger. This is a unique visualization which serves as a reminder that XRP is burned with every ledger closed.
Validators
The Validators section in the home page shows a selection of XRPL validators (starting with UNL), of the full list which can be accessed by going to “Registry”.
Here is a screenshot of how the validator registry looks like:
XRPL Stats
The XRPL stats section of the homepage displays an interesting mix of transaction-related statistics for the day (in UTC timezone). Interestingly you can already see how many accounts have been deleted on this time frame since the amendment allowing for XRPL address deletion was recently put in place.
From there, you can access a more detailed page by going to “Metrics”, which is Disneyland for stats junkies like me 😬 as it shows totals, transactions by type (payments, escrows, offers, etc) and by result (successful, unfunded, etc). The metrics section is very robust and has many different visualizations. I invite you to check it out while giving you a small sneak peek: The chart showing account deletions since this feature was rolled out earlier this month.
The Explorer
Now back into the homepage, the explorer can be accessed by entering either account, name, transaction hash, ledger or validator address in the search bar located in the upper right corner of the page. Here is how it looks like when searching for One More Home's XRPL address:
Oh and by the way, thanks to a typo I did in one of the searches, I discovered XRPSCAN has the coolest “404: Not found message“ I have ever seen: The Riddle of Strider from Lord of the Rings:
In addition to obtaining XRPL data, the explorer nicely presents different further related data in tabs, for example the different balances (total, reserves and spendable balance) of the account, and also several other bits of information like accounts activated, escrows, ancestry (think of the family tree of the account), an analytics tab showing a chart with payments to the account, etc.
For example, here is what the “Analyze” tab looks like (It allows you to download the chart in different formats: PNG, JPEG, PDF).
Other Features
In addition to the explorer, the statistics, validator lists and ledger information, XRPSCAN also shares further information for the XRP Community.
Amendments
The amendments page accessible from the main menu on the upper section of the home page shows the voting info and enabled status of the latest amendments to the XRPL that have been proposed, as per the last voting round.
Documentation
Also, the API doc can be accessed via the docs section from the main menu, which includes an integration guide, guidelines on contributing (including the process for account identification) and contact details.
XRPSCAN on Socials
XRPSCAN is present on social media, and is constantly providing updates about the latest improvements and new features added:
https://twitter.com/xrpscan/status/1263453285429637120?s=20
so don't forget to give this awesome project a follow on Twitter!
And if you're not a fan of Twitter, you can also follow the project on:
XRP Chat:
https://www.xrpchat.com/profile/21967-xrpscan/
And Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/user/xrpscan
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
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