A first Bitcoin block explorer. How does it look like?

[tranthidung]

In reality, you can check your Bitcoin balance and transaction history directly with your own wallets, nodes and even don't need any Bitcoin block explorer to do it.

Bitcoin block explorers practically provide a lot of convenience for us. Obviously we have to be careful when using block explorers because they are centralized hosted and our privacy can be leaked. Use them with Tor connection if you do care about your privacy.

Let's return to this topic.

What is the first Bitcoin block explorer in history?
It is built by theymos. Are you surprised? 

Bitcoin Block Explorer
It used to be hosted at http://theymos.ath.cx:64150/bbe/
It was live on November 10, 2010.

At some points of time, it was mirror hosted at https://109.123.116.245/
Need mirror for blockexplorer.com

How does the first Bitcoin block explorer look like?
See its archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20101113061427/http://theymos.ath.cx:64150/bbe/

I use it to explore the Bitcoin Genesis block and get a result as follows.

• https://web.archive.org/web/20101113075930/http://theymos.ath.cx:64150/bbe/block/000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f

You want to have block explorers today?

• Get many of them from [Huge List] Bitcoin Helpful Links/ Tools

Other hidden facts you did not know, I guess so, because I did not add it in OP.

• 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).

Note:

• It was posted first in that topic, on Bitcointalk
• I leave the source link to avoid plagiarism accusation.
• I excluded/ included minor things from an original thread ^{if necessary}.

[Charles-Tim]

In reality, you can check your Bitcoin balance and transaction history directly with your own wallets, nodes and
even don't need any Bitcoin block explorer to do it.

This is true. But there are a lot of things that you can check on explorers that you can not use SPV wallet to check, except that you are running your own node. Although, some wallets are getting better and making more information more available, but they still lack some information.

Bitcoin block explorers practically provide a lot of convenience for us. Obviously we have to be careful when using block explorers because they are centralized hosted and our privacy can be leaked. Use them with Tor connection if you do care about your privacy.

You are right. But it is also worth knowing that SPV wallets are using central servers and these servers are also owned by third parties. Also it is good to use Tor with SPV wallets, for your wallet balance, bitcoin addresses and IP address not to leak.

[CryptoLaila]

You are right. But it is also worth knowing that SPV wallets are using central servers and these servers are also owned by third parties. Also it is good to use Tor with SPV wallets, for your wallet balance, bitcoin addresses and IP address not to leak.

Thanks for this! but what of navigation  through mobile probably if I'm not on my  PC can I use  duckduckgo or is there Tor for phone

[tranthidung]

Thanks for this! but what of navigation  through mobile probably if I'm not on my  PC can I use  duckduckgo or is there Tor for phone

You can use Tor browser for Android

• https://www.torproject.org/download/#android

It is for browser only.

If you need higher privacy, you can use Orbot.

• https://orbot.app/en/

Do I need both Tor Browser for Android and Orbot, or only one?

While both Tor Browser for Android and Orbot are great, they serve different purposes.

• Tor Browser for Android is like the desktop Tor Browser, but on your mobile device. It is a one stop browser that uses the Tor network and tries to be as anonymous as possible.
• Orbot on the other hand is a proxy that will enable you to send the data from your other applications (E-Mail clients, instant messaging apps, etc.) through the Tor network

A version of Orbot is also inside of Tor Browser for Android, and is what enables it to connect to the Tor network. That version, however, does not enable you to send other apps outside of Tor Browser for Android through it. Depending on how you want to use the Tor network, either one or both of these could be a great option.