Web3's power to facilitate trustless transactions and permissionless transactions without the involvement or intervention of any third party intermediary or centralized authority is part of its beauty. But how does this magic actually occur? Popularly known as "Internet Legos" and referred to by Packy McCormick as smart contracts, smart contracts have been widely accepted as the foundation of Web3.
A digital contract is computer program that lives in the blockchain. It is controlled using the rudimentary "if/when...then". statements. To illustrate, "if a" occurs, execute step ‘b. Once these predetermined terms have been met and the transaction is executed, it is saved to the blockchain.
These computer programs are composed by nature and can be combined to make fully-fledged blockchain applications. All these Web3 projects run on smart contracts.
Smart contracts are used specifically for NFTs. They can be used to execute events such as the minting or burning of tokens, facilitating transactions, and disbursing royalties. The token's smart contract holds important information regarding its distribution, function, as well as transaction volume. This information can not only be useful in assessing the health or a project's performance, but it can also help you to become a more educated NFT enthusiast.
Surprisingly you don't have to be a programmer to learn how to use smart contracts to gain valuable information. But you must know where to look. And that's exactly why we're there.
The best way to access an NFT’s smart contract
Etherscan provides the best way of viewing a token's Smart Contract. It is an Ethereum block explorer/analytics platform. Block explorers such Etherscan make it easy to index and search historical and current information on a blockchain. This page allows users to easily find relevant information about specific tokens and smart contracts or transactions.
Most token owners can access the smart contract by using one of two options: Etherscan searching or NFT market listing.
Etherscan searches
The search bar features prominently on Etherscan’s homepage. The search bar lets users query the blockchain by address, transaction hash and block number.
We will search by the token name for the purposes of this article. Let's look at CryptoPunks.
Web3's power to facilitate trustless transactions and permissionless transactions without the intervention or interference of any third party intermediary or centralized authority is part of its beauty. How is this magic possible? Smart contracts are often referred to as "Internet Legos" and are the building blocks of Web3.
A digital contract is any computer program that lives on blockchain. It is controlled using the rudimentary "if/when...then” statements. To illustrate, "if a" occurs, then execute step B. Once these terms have been met, the transaction will automatically be executed and stored on the blockchain.
These computer programs are composed by nature and can be strung together to create fully-fledged blockchain applications. Smart contracts are the backbone of all these Web3 projects.
Smart contracts are used specifically for NFTs. They can be used to execute events like the minting or burning of tokens, facilitating transactions, and disbursing royalties. Under the hood, the smart contract of a token holds valuable data regarding its distribution, function, as well as transaction volume. This information can not only be useful in assessing the health or a project's performance, but it can also help to make you a safer NFT enthusiast.
Surprisingly you don't have to be a programmer to learn how to use smart contracts to gain valuable information. But it helps to know where and when to look. We are here to help.
The best way to access an NFT’s smart contract
Etherscan provides the best way of viewing a token's Smart Contract. This is a block-explorer and analytics platform based on Ethereum. Block explorers such Etherscan make it easy to index and search historical and current information on a blockchain. Users can quickly find relevant information about specific tokens and smart contracts or transactions.
To gain access to a token's intelligent contract, most users choose one of the two options: Etherscan searching or an NFT market listing.
Etherscan searches
A search bar with large fonts is prominently featured in Etherscan’s homepage. The search bar lets users query the blockchain with their wallet address. They can also use this address to find out about transaction hash and block numbers.
For the sake this article, we will search for token names. Let's look at CryptoPunks as an illustration.
Via NFT Marketplace Listing
It is possible to access tokens' smart contracts via a CryptoPunk listingon the NFT marketplace. This route is longer but safer. OpenSea's marketplaces include a link to the contract address in the details/ properties card. This card is found on the left side.
Rarible and Foundation marketplaces don't link directly to contracts. However, they link the mint transaction where you can quickly find the contract address. As you can see, the Magnum Photos 75 Collection Contract Link is listed on Foundation.
Navigating Etherescan
The main page of the contract
The maincontract page acts like the homepage of the contract. In the contract overview and other information sections, you can see the total amount and USD value of the contract's ETH balance. A link to both the initial mint transaction, and the wallet used to make it, is also included in the more info section.
Scrolling deeper into the pages and their respective tabs reveals a treasure trove of information on transactions, holders, analytics, as well as the code of the contract. Let's explore a bit more.
Transactions
The transactions tab contains a chronological overview of all transactions on blockchain, with timestamps as well as the wallet addresses associated each transaction. Also, it includes the transaction's value and the applicable gas fee.
Txn Hash Column allows users access to more details regarding a specific transaction on blockchain. Next is the method column, which details the function executed during the transaction. Examples include: mint, sale and transfer. In this case, the functions include withdraw bid, bid entry, and withdraw.
Contracts
The contracts tabis separated into three sections. Code, read contract and write contract. Before you proceed, make sure that the contract that you are reading has been verified. This ensures the contract code submitted to Etherscan and verified by the owner is identical to the Ethereum contract. As you can see, the contract is verified. This means that you can move forward.
The code tab contains the source code of smart contracts, as is evident by the name. This can be hard to understand if one doesn't have the technical skills required to learn the Solidity programming language. There are comments that often separate each section of code and identify the associated function.
This could be a good opportunity to learn the basics of Solidity.
The readcode tab displays information that is not usually displayed on the main contract homepage. This information will vary depending on which contract you have, but it allows you to query smart contract functions for specific information.
The balanceOf section lets users verify how many CryptoPunks a single account holds by entering a wallet number.
Let's check out FaZe Bank wallet for gamer.
Boom. FaZe owns nine CryptoPunks.
Enter contract
You can connect your wallet with Etherscan to allow users to execute any function from the EtherscanUI. This includes purchasing, withdrawing and placing bids. This is a lot more difficult and practical than transacting via an NFT Marketplace, but it's different for different people.
Token tracker
A link to the Token Tracker can also be found at the bottom, in the more info box, on the main contract pages.
The token tracker link gives you additional information about the collection. This includes the minimum token value, maximum supply, number of unique wallets holding tokens, and the total number transferred. This information can be used to indicate the strength of an NFT-collective and its community.
A community that has many different holders and transfers is often more active and healthy than one with only a handful. The transfers tab below contains an immutable record that tracks every transfer of tokens within the collection. This includes date, time, sale price and wallet addresses.
Token holders
The holders tab provides a detailed breakdown of who holds the most tokens. To get a better visual, click the token holder's chart in top left-hand corners. This will display the data in a pie chart.
This illustrates that the top 100 CryptoPunks Holders collectively control 46.48% of CryptoPunks.
Analytics
Finally, the analysis tab shows additional data regarding transaction count. Unique senders, ETH fee, transfers, and many other factors. In the end, data availability varies from one collection to another. The CryptoPunks chart shows how we can sort through data concerning ether balance, transactions fees, ETH and token transfer costs.
At this point you should have an overview of Etherscan, smart contracts, and Etherscan. You have the whole blockchain at your disposal. It's up to you to decide how to use it.
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