This guide will provide an introduction to the block explorers in peaq’s ecosystem, specifically provided by Polkadot.js and Subscan. Blockchain explorers are essential tools for interacting with and analyzing blockchain networks. They allow users to to view transaction histories, account details, network statistics, pallets, and much more.

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What you’ll learn

  • How to interact with pallets using Polkadot.js.
  • How to use Polkadot.js for real-time interactions.
  • How to explore transaction data, blocks, and accounts using Subscan.
The following table provides the relevant links to the Polkadot.js and Subscan explorer for each network so you can follow along.
NetworkPolkadot.jsSubscan
peaqPolkadot Native ExplorerSubscan Explorer
agungPolkadot Native ExplorerSubscan Explorer
The following will reference the agung network and block explorers to prevent unwanted data to be added to the live peaq network. Information referenced in this document is the same between the networks.

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Instructions

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Polkadot.js for Block Information

Please open up the Polkadot.js link referenced above. It will take you to the block explorer page for the network you selected. An image like the one displayed below will appear. block-explorers-1

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Main Metrics

  • Last Block: Indicates the time taken to produce the most recent block.
  • Target Block Time: Displays the target block production time (6 seconds), showing whether the network is operating within expected parameters.
  • Total Issuance: Represents the total supply of the network’s native currency (427.7602 MAGUNG), reflecting overall supply dynamics.
  • Inactive Issuance: Displays uncirculated or non-staked currency (2.0105 MAGUNG), potentially relevant for staking or inflation calculations.

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Recent Blocks

  • Block List: Shows a list of the most recently produced blocks.
    • Block Numbers: Clicking on a block number (e.g., 3,137,077) navigates to details about that specific block.
    • Block Hash: Displays the unique hash for each block.
    • Validator Address: Identifies the account or node (e.g., 5FX8TwkFy...) responsible for producing that block.

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Recent Events

  • Displays the latest events logged on the blockchain, such as:
    • Extrinsics: Events that are sent from the sdk or extrinsic explorer will show up here (peaqStorage.ItemAdded, peaqDid.AttributeAdded).
    • Staking Rewards: Events like parachainStaking.Rewarded indicate rewards issued to validators or delegators.
    • Balance Transfers: balances.Transfer shows transactions between accounts.
    • Session/Block Rewards: Events like session.NewSession or blockReward.BlockRewardsDistributed track staking sessions or block rewards.
    • New Rounds: parachainStaking.NewRound reflects the start of new staking rounds, useful for validators or nominators.

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Polkadot.js for Accounts

Select the Accounts section from the blockchain explorer interface, specifically the “My Accounts” tab. It provides an overview of accounts, balances, and associated actions for managing wallet funds and interacting with the network. block-explorers-2

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Account Categories

  1. Extension Accounts:
    • Accounts accessible through browser extensions (e.g., Polkadot.js, Talisman, etc.).
    • Example: TEST ACCOUNT (EXTENSION) has 25.3887 AGUNG.
      • Transferable: Amount of tokens that can be sent to another wallet.
      • Reserved: Amount of tokens locked after performing DID/RBAC/STORAGE operations to prevent spam. Refunded to the user after they use a remove() method to delete what they stored on-chain.
      • Transactions: Number of transactions the account has performed.
    • Actions available:
      • Send: Transfer funds from this account to another.
  2. Development Accounts:
    • Accounts derived from seed phrases used for development purposes.
    • Example Accounts:
      • “ALICE” has 11.8386 AGUNG available.
    • Actions available:
      • Send: Transfer funds from these accounts.

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Polkadot.js for Extrinsics

Select the Developer section from the blockchain explorer interface, specifically the “Extrinsics” tab. This interface is helpful to those who want to understand what pallets peaq has and the capabilities they offer. It allows developers or advanced users to manually submit extrinsics (transactions or actions) to the blockchain. block-explorers-3

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Key Components

  1. Using the Selected Account
    • Displays the currently selected account from which the extrinsic will be submitted.
    • In this case, the account is TEST ACCOUNT (EXTENSION), which has a free balance of 4.0377 AGUNG.
    • Users can switch accounts if they have multiple accounts configured.
  2. Submit the Following Extrinsic
    • Pallet (Module): peaqStorage
      • This refers to a custom pallet/module on the peaq network. The pallet handles specific logic or functionality, related to storage in this case.
    • Function (Extrinsic): addItem(itemType, item)
      • This function allows users to add an item to storage by specifying:
        • itemType (Bytes): Indicates the type or category of the item being stored (e.g., a label or identifier).
        • item (Bytes): The actual data or item being stored (e.g., a name, value, or identifier string).
  3. Input Fields
    • itemType (Bytes): The user has entered item001 as the type of the stored item.
    • item (Bytes): The user has entered my_item_001 as the data or value to be stored.
      • These values will be encoded as hex bytes for submission to the blockchain.
    • Encoded Call Data
      • Displays the encoded transaction data to be sent to the blockchain.
      • Example: 0x6800106974656d2c6d795f6974656d5f313233
        • This is the byte-encoded representation of the addItem extrinsic with its arguments.
  • Encoded Call Hash
    • A hash of the encoded call data: 0x30a89710e6440564c741b061c84cc328948b7d21869b70e24315191bd69771c.
    • This hash is unique to this specific extrinsic and can be used for reference or validation purposes.
  • Encoding Details
    • callIndex: 6800 - Identifies the pallet and function within the runtime.
    • itemType (Hex): 6974656d303031 - Hex-encoded version of the input itemType (“item001”).
    • item (Hex): 6d795f6974656d5f303031 - Hex-encoded version of the input item (“my_item_001”).
    • Link: Provides a URL for decoding the extrinsic for validation.
  • Submission Options
    • Submit Unsigned: Submit the transaction without signing it, typically used for testing purposes.
    • Submit Transaction: Sends the transaction as a signed extrinsic from the selected account.

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Send Extrinsic

After reading through and getting a deeper understanding of the pallet that you are using, you are free use it to send a transaction.
  1. In another tab, select the Network tab and click on the Explorer section. This will bring you to the block explorer page so you can see the extrinsic you send be appended on chain.
  2. In your main tab open up the Extrinsics page. Create a transaction similar to the one above to store data at peaqStorage . Once you have connected your account and filled the pallet with relevant data, please click on the Submit Transaction button on the bottom right.
    1. Sign the transaction with your password.
    2. A green checkmark will appear in the upper right corner when it has been submitted to the chain.
  3. Got back to the Explorer page. After a couple seconds a the extrinsic event you submitted will be appended. You can click on the block number on the right hand side to view more information about the transaction. block-explorers-4

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Read Extrinsic

Once a peaq storage transaction has been sent, you can also use the Extrinsic Developer section to read the data you added.
  1. Open the Polkadot.js Explorer page
  2. Select peaqStorage getItem() on the extrinsic page.
  3. Submit the same itemType as what you just stored (e.g. item).
  4. Sign transaction
  5. Go to explorer to see the ItemRead return item.
block-explorers-5 As you can see the Polkadot.js Explorer is a powerful tool for interacting directly with the blockchain, offering advanced features like submitting, reading, and analyzing extrinsics. However, for users who need a more streamlined and user-friendly experience to simply monitor on-chain activity, analyze transaction histories, or explore account details without diving into the complexities of extrinsics, the Subscan Explorer becomes an invaluable resource.

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Subscan

Now we will explore Subscan. This explorer focuses on pre-indexed, easily accessible data. This makes it particularly useful for non-technical users or those who want a high-level view of blockchain activity without dealing with the complexities of runtime calls and extrinsics. Subscan also provides enhanced features like account and contract lookups, detailed transaction filtering, and historical data exploration, which Polkadot.js does not offer in as streamlined a manner.

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Using Subscan

  1. Visit Subscan’s peaq Explorer.
    • Using the table above, go to the Subscan explorer you would like to use (agung in these examples).
    • The dashboard provides a high-level overview of the network, including key metrics like finalized blocks, signed extrinsics, and active accounts.
  2. Search for Accounts or Contracts
    • In the search bar enter an account address or contract address to quickly locate its details.
    Example of an account search: The account above was search by inputting 0x9Eeab1aCcb1A701aEfAB00F3b8a275a39646641C in the search bar. Subscan returned the account that is affiliated with this address. block-explorers-6

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Account Details

  • Account: Includes the address of the account and the nonce which represents the number of transactions sent from this account.
  • Balance: Displays the amount of the native token an account has. Shows how much is transferable and how much is reserved (during pallet usage).
  • EVM Transactions:
    • Displays a list of transactions submitted by this account to the blockchain.
    • Each EVM Transaction contains the following:
      • Tx Hash: 0x0664....23c3c6 - The unique transaction hash used to identify this tx.
      • From: 0x9Eea....46641C - Account used to send the tx.
      • To: 0x0000....000801 - Where the transactions was sent to (RBAC precompile in this case).
      • Method: 0x257c3c03 - Function method executed on the Smart Contract (human-readable when contract is verified).
      • Time: 2 days 19 hrs ago - Indicates when the tx was added to the blockchain.
      • Txn Fee: 0.0000000000477PEAQ - Cost to send the tx.
      • Value: 0.0000000000477PEAQ - Acount of native token that was transferred during the operation.
      • Result: ✅ - Indicates that the extrinsic was successfully executed.
  • ERC-20 Transfers: Shows the fund transfers initiated by this account.
  • EVM-NFT Transfers History: Shows the NFT transfers initiated by this account.

Example of an contract search: The contract was found by submitted the deployed contract address of 0x17bD3d6639b28Ee774040D3aE2137F49390a584c in the Subscan search bar. It took me to the page: block-explorers-7

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Contract Details

  • Account:
    • Unknown: Indicates the account hasn’t been assigned a custom or recognizable name by the user.
    • Account Address: Unique identifier of the EVM contract.
    • Type: EVM-based account, meaning it’s a smart contract account created and executed within the EVM environment.
    • Nonce: Indicates that this contract account has performed 30 transactions so far.
    • Contract Creator: The EVM address of the account that deployed this contract.
    • Created At: Refers to the transaction hash where this contract was initially deployed.
  • Balance:
    • Total Balance: 9.57 AGUNG – The contract currently has native AGUNG tokens.
  • Transaction Details:
    • EVM Transactions (685): Tracks interactions with this EVM contract.
      • Txn Hash: 0xcde5....de3647 - The unique identifier for the transaction involving this contract. Clicking this link shows more details about the transaction.
      • From: 0x9Eea...46641C - The address of the sender who interacted with the contract (contract creator in this case).
      • To: 0x17bD....0a584c - The address of this contract, which received the transaction.
      • Method: executeTransaction() - The method or function called within the contract.
      • Time: 6 days ago = Indicates when this transaction was processed.
      • Txn Fee: 0.0000000000984PEAQ - The transaction fee paid for executing this transaction on the network.
      • Value: 0 PEAQ - No value (native tokens) was transferred with this transaction.
      • Result: ✅ - Indicates that the transaction was successfully executed.
    • ERC-20 Transfers (22): Indicates no transfers of ERC-20 tokens (standard fungible tokens) related to this contract.
    • ERC-721 Transfers (0): Indicates no transfers of ERC-721 tokens (standard NFTs) related to this contract.
    • Contract: Includes details on how to verify a contract.

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Summary

The Polkadot.js and Subscan explorers are essential tools for interacting with and analyzing the peaq blockchain ecosystem. While both tools provide valuable insights into the network, they serve different purposes and cater to different audiences.
  • Polkadot.js Explorer:
    • Aimed at developers and advanced users, Polkadot.js allows for real-time interaction with the blockchain, such as submitting and analyzing extrinsics, interacting with pallets, and directly querying blockchain data. It is the go-to tool for development, testing, and debugging custom smart contract or pallet logic.
  • Subscan Explorer:
    • Designed for usability, Subscan provides a user-friendly interface for exploring on-chain data without needing deep technical knowledge. Its pre-indexed data makes it easy to monitor account and contract activity, search for transactions, and view historical data. With features like contract and account lookups, detailed transaction filtering, and balance history visualization, Subscan is ideal for auditing and gaining high-level insights into blockchain activity.