Understanding EVM Transactions

Web3 users have all seen screenshots just like the one above. Look closely - just how much information is on-chain? Some of you may know what I’m getting at, but to start I’ll shill the tool I’ll be using throughout this article. Etherscan is completely free, makes on-chain data readily accessible, is built into many popular UIs, and makes everything human readable! The team behind this product builds the block explorers for essentially every major EVM chain out there. Main takeaway: Reading the fine print in transaction details can & **will** save you money, time, anxiety, and make you a stronger blockchain user overall. Why is understanding on-chain useful? (and why Etherscan?) If you find yourself, at this point in time, actively transacting on an EVM chain you are likely more than your average web3 user. Most of you have been around for a while or know how to not blow up - either way, you’re someone who takes advantage of the benefits of web3, or you’re a degen, (or somewhere in between) but at the end of the day you’re a power user. The list of basic Quality of Life features Etherscan offers for free is incredible on its own. From email alerts for wallet activity that get triggered within seconds of transactions being processed to wallet tagging and notes, to gas fees and NFT market links, down to individual transaction event logs and details. Etherscan is your one stop shop for everything you have ever done with your wallet - and everything your tokens have ever done. A simple point to convey the importance of Etherscan usage: proper taxes accounting. If you are a business, or a professional, or someone making (and spending) significant amounts of crypto & fiat - you’re going to NEED to keep track of what you’re doing with your assets and why. There are paid solutions for this, especially for businesses, but you’d be surprised at how much you can get away with using Etherscan and a basic spreadsheet. If you prefer visuals, I will have demonstrations of transactions in the following section. Most “power users” likely also have a more complex wallet system than average. Whether this system includes a vault, hardware wallet, cold wallet, minting wallet, hot wallet, or otherwise, things get difficult to track. One way to keep your head on straight is by signing up your LEAST used wallets for email alerts. That wallet that holds your bags? Well, if you don’t use it much except to maybe register for a PREMINT list, why not sign up for email alerts? You should know when the transactions happen, and if you get an email when you’re not using it then you know something is wrong! The point here is to use email alerts on low frequency use wallets like vaults and hardware wallets were you most likely NEVER hope to randomly receive these emails. This concept may seem backwards but it is an incredible use-case and powerful security alert tool. Of course email alerts can be used for low gas fee / pending transactions, as well as general wallet usage, but I personally find the cold wallet scenario the most useful, especially considering the limited number wallets and emails per account. Gwei? Gesundheit! Gas fees are a pain, but Etherscan brings the aloe right to you with their gas tracker. See the gas fee in USD or ETH per type of transaction, compare historical gas fees, and see an estimate per pending transaction of the time to confirmation using existing gas market data. No need to second guess how much to pay for gas and how long it will take! Last but definitely not least in the list of incredibly useful features, the amount of detail included in individual transactions on Etherscan allows for troubleshooting, investigations, and evidence gathering not normally possible in any transactional network. Whether you are minting a new drop and want to mint from contract, or are purchasing an NFT on OpenSea and want to know where the royalties are going, or want to confirm that last thing you signed is really what you meant to sign, you’ll find it all provided in the transaction‘s finer details and secondary tabs. Okay… that was a lot. Where do I start? You start by giving wallets (0xabc…789) labels. Labeling personal wallets similarly across the interfaces you use them in helps ensure you know what is going where at all times. Interactions with popular smart contracts will sometimes have names already, but take the time to look through your recent and frequent transactions and make sure everything has a name. The goal here is a clean transaction list that is digestible at a glance.

Once you create an Etherscan account, you’ll have the opportunity to set Name Tags or wallet labels on each account overview page. The screenshot above shows what that process would look like.

Taking some time to label the wallets this account has most recently interacted with, we end up with something like the above.

That’s much better already! Now let’s take a look at these tabs:

The different transaction (Txn) type tabs on this page help gather the more important transactions.

Some quick definitions: - Internal transactions: transactions initiated by a smart contract - ERC-20: Fungible token standard, think USDC, wETH, and so forth. - ERC-721: NFT standard, BAYC, CloneX, Doodles, etc. - ERC-1155: Secondary NFT standard, The Sandbox Assets, one or more tokenIDs with n supply - Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs): The technical term for user wallets, i.e. Metamask and Ledger wallets. - Transactions (Txns): Paid for with gas, transactions created by EOAs that update the blockchain in some way or another, writing new information to the chain. - Smart Contract: Pieces of code deployed to the blockchain that EOAs and other smart contracts can interact with (via transactions)

The token tabs here are super useful for your average user. Whether you’re an on-chain crypto trader or an NFT degen, these two tabs help focus in on what your tokens have done and where they stand.

From left to right: A warning on individual transaction notes that the tokens have low reputation. Value column displays the amount of tokens transferred. Token column gives token name and shorthand (APE).

If you’re someone actively using many ERC-20 tokens, you should take advantage of this tab in combination with wallet labels. I can reference the last month of transactions, their sender and receiver wallets, and the level of importance. I can also sort by both the amount or Value and the type of token involved. Individual ERC-721 tokens even have their own interface. There you'll find links to the secondary markets for that token and other nice-to-knows.

tl;dr The untapped potential of on-chain power-usage is in the palm of your hands through Etherscan, and it’s 100% free. Start by reading the fine print in transactions and getting familiar with what exactly happens when you pay a gas fee. From there, dive into the world of smart contracts - from functions to complex interactions, code is law and custody is on you. Taking the time to know your transactions and you won’t regret it the next time you end up on the wrong site. Thanks for reading! Let me know if there are any specific transaction types you want me to go over first, as this series will be expanded over time.