How to read a block explorer without misreading it
A block explorer is a search engine for one chain. It is honest about that chain and silent about every exchange. Misreading it is how people open recovery tickets for failed transfers, or wait on 'success' that the destination will never credit.
You only need five fields: status, confirmations, token transferred, to address, and memo or destination tag if the chain has one.
Pick the explorer that matches the hash
Pasting a TRON hash into Etherscan produces an error. That error does not mean the money vanished. TXLens detects the network from the hash so you do not have to pick the explorer first.
| If the sending screen said | Explorer that can see it | Explorer that cannot |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | mempool.space or a Bitcoin explorer | Etherscan |
| Ethereum / ERC20 | Etherscan | TRONSCAN |
| TRC20 | TRONSCAN | Etherscan |
| Solana / SPL | Solscan or a Solana explorer | Etherscan |
| XRP Ledger | xrpscan or livenet.xrpl.org | Etherscan |
- Etherscan: transaction hash — Official Etherscan knowledge-base explanation of the hash field on an Ethereum transaction page.
- XRP Ledger: destination tags — Primary network docs for the tag field explorers show on an XRPL payment.
The fields people misread
- Status success / confirmed: the chain accepted it. Not an exchange credit.
- Token transferred: the contract that moved. Check it is USDT or USDC, not a similarly named fake.
- To: the recipient. For a token transfer this is the destination address, not the contract, unless you actually sent to the contract.
- Destination tag / memo: present or absent. Absent on XRPL to an exchange is a matching problem.
- Failed / reverted: the native token for gas left, the token transfer did not. There is no deposit to recover at the destination.
Internal transactions and token tabs
On Etherscan, an ETH transfer and an ERC20 transfer are different tabs. A USDT send can show a tiny ETH fee in the overview and the real value under Token transfers. Reading only the overview is how people think they sent 0 ETH.
What you get, and what it costs
Free, always
The transaction check: network, asset, amount, both addresses, timestamp, on-chain status, confirmation count, and a copyable evidence message for support. No diagnosis.
£9.99, one-off
The diagnosis: the likely cause, recovery outlook, step-by-step instructions, the official support route, wording written for that case, and 72-hour monitoring. No subscription.
Questions
The explorer shows the exchange address. Why is my balance unchanged?
Because arriving at an address the exchange controls is necessary and not sufficient. The platform still has to watch that network for that asset, match the tag if required, pass its confirmation count and clear its minimum.
Do I still need TXLens if I can read the explorer?
The explorer will not apply Coinbase or Binance deposit rules to the hash. That comparison is the free check. The paid diagnosis is the interpretation and the support wording, not a second explorer.
Related
Platform requirements on this page were last reviewed 2026-08. They change without notice, which is why every diagnosis is phrased as a likely cause rather than a certainty.
TXLens is read-only. We only use your transaction ID and public blockchain data. We never ask for your private keys, seed phrase or exchange login.