Glossary
Block-explorer terminology, plainly defined.
- BIP-32 derivation path - A BIP-32 derivation path describes how a hierarchical deterministic wallet derives child keys from a single seed.
- Block confirmation - A block confirmation is each subsequent block built on top of the one containing your transaction. More confirmations means more finality.
- Block hash - A block hash is the cryptographic hash of a block's header, uniquely identifying that block in a blockchain's history.
- Block number - A block number, also called block height, is the sequential index of a block on a chain. It is the cleanest way to reference a block.
- Checksum address - A checksum address is the EIP-55 mixed-case Ethereum address encoding that lets wallets detect typos before broadcasting a transaction.
- Gas fee - Gas fee is the cost paid for compute and storage on EVM chains. It combines gas used with a per-unit price, possibly split into base and priority fees.
- Mempool - The mempool is a node's pool of pending unconfirmed transactions. Explorers surface it to show what is waiting to be included in a block.
- Nonce - On EVM chains, the nonce is an account's transaction counter. It enforces ordering and prevents replay of signed transactions.
- Smart contract - A smart contract is code deployed at a blockchain address that runs on a virtual machine when invoked by a transaction.
- Transaction hash - A transaction hash is a unique cryptographic fingerprint identifying a single blockchain transaction. Shown as a hex or base58 string.
- Transaction receipt - On EVM chains, a transaction receipt is the artifact that records the outcome of a transaction: status, gas used, logs, and more.
- Wallet address - A wallet address is a public identifier where assets can be received. It is derived from a public key, encoded per the chain's rules.