BTC & NMC Block explorer
Description
This Bitcoin and Namecoin Block Explorer is the culmination of a deep dive into blockchain technology.
Technical Architecture
The foundation of this explorer is a sophisticated technical stack. The user interface (UI) is meticulously crafted using the versatile Bootstrap framework, ensuring responsiveness across various devices. Integrated within the UI is a dynamic React web application, employing a component-based architecture. On the backend, a custom API is implemented in Go, facilitating communication with the Bitcoin and Namecoin blockchains through RPC (Remote Procedure Call). For efficient data retrieval, a locally hosted Electrum server is employed to allow for more efficient indexing of the blockchain.
Exploration Features
This block explorer offers a range of functionalities. Users can explore transaction histories, examine address balances, and scrutinize the specifics of individual blocks and transactions. The explorer is equipped with a robust search function, allowing users to swiftly locate particular transactions or addresses. The responsive design ensures a seamless experience on both desktop and mobile devices. This block explorer also supports GET queries allowing for links to specific information on the blockchain to be generated on the fly in other applications.
Technical Challenges
Throughout the development journey, I encountered and addressed several technical challenges. These included secure hosting such a heavy set of nodes requiring hundreds of gigabytes of storage without incurring large fees for maintaining the live server. I have overcome this by setting up a self hosted server on hardware I already had that was both power efficient and completely separate from my day-to-day workstation. To allow for secure access to this infrastructure I implemented Cloudflare's argo tunnels thus, removing the need to open ports on my host machine and network and hands a lot of the web security and SSL off to Cloudflare's servers, allowing me to focus on the technology itself.
Future Direction
While this project stands as an achievement, it represents just the beginning. The roadmap includes expanding support for additional cryptocurrencies and introducing advanced analytics features to provide deeper insights into blockchain data.
I might also consider monotizing the website with ads if for no other reason than to get more familiar with online ad technologies.