CipherScan - Not Another Block Explorer… Please, No 😩

[Kenbak]

*Yes, I know. I can already hear you sighing. “Great, another explorer that’ll be abandoned in 6 months.” Fair enough. But hear me out.*

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What is CipherScan?

CipherScan is a Zcash block explorer focused on privacy, usability, and developer experience.

I built it because I wanted an explorer that feels modern, respects privacy by design, and makes blockchain data actually understandable. Something I’d enjoy using myself.

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What Makes It Different?

1. Clean, Modern UI

I spent way too much time on the design. Dark theme that’s easy on the eyes. Clean layouts. Information hierarchy that makes sense. Responsive on mobile. The kind of UI I’d want to use myself.

2. Decrypt Your Memos Without Trusting Anyone

This is the feature I’m most proud of.

You can decrypt your transaction memos directly in your browser. Your viewing key never leaves your device. No server ever sees it. It’s a WebAssembly module compiled from Zcash’s actual cryptographic libraries.

For a privacy coin, I felt it was important to offer a zero-trust option.

3. Privacy Score Index

I developed a Privacy Score that gives you a quick sense of Zcash’s privacy health:

- How much of the supply is shielded vs transparent?

- Is privacy adoption trending up or down?

- What percentage of transactions are fully shielded?

It’s an attempt to make privacy adoption visible and measurable. The formula isn’t perfect and can definitely be improved. I’m open to feedback from the community on how to make it more meaningful.

4. Developer APIs

If you’re building something on Zcash, there’s a REST API you can use. Blocks, transactions, addresses, privacy stats. Also running public Lightwalletd endpoints for both mainnet and testnet.

I’d also love for CipherScan to be listed on official Zcash resources (z.cash, zechub etc.) if the community finds it useful.

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Current Status

- Mainnet: https://cipherscan.app

- Testnet: https://testnet.cipherscan.app

Everything is live and working. Not a roadmap, not a “coming soon”, actual working software you can use right now.

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What’s Coming

I have a bunch of ideas, but I’d rather hear what you want:

- Human-readable transaction explanations (so normal people can understand what happened)

- Address labels and notes

- Cross-chain ZEC tracking (via NEAR Intents)

- Better mobile experience

- Whatever you suggest

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This Thread = Updates + Feedback

I’ll post all updates here. New features, bug fixes, whatever.

If something is broken, annoying, or missing, tell me. I actually read feedback and fix things.

If you have feature requests, drop them below. Can’t promise I’ll build everything, but I’ll definitely consider it.

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One Last Thing

I participated in the Zypherpunk Hackathon with CipherScan. Results pending, but win or lose, I’m committed to keeping this thing running and improving it.

Privacy matters. The tools around it should too.

Cheers,

Kenbak

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Links:

- Mainnet: https://cipherscan.app

- Testnet: https://testnet.cipherscan.app

- API Docs: https://cipherscan.app/docs

- Twitter: https://x.com/cipherscan_app

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P.S. — If you find bugs, please report them nicely. I’m one person and I’ve had too much coffee.

[jenkin]

Impressive result, as a frontend developer I like your visual choices!

Privacy score doesn’t convince me, just a number can’t really represent a complex concept like privacy. Maybe it can be used as indicator for comparisons, but again it can be problematic. If you define a bunch of metrics, with normalized values, I think a radar chart can be more useful.

Really great work, thanks for sharing and good luck!

[dismad]

Looks very nice, great colors! I really like your dashboard in particular:

Maybe you could add the coinholder address in addition to the lockbox? (See lockbox tab here)

Thanks for running a full node!

[Shawn]

Nice, this was one of my favorite projects I saw in the hackathon, good luck!

[Kenbak]

Thanks a lot!

Yes that’s a very good idea, i didnt have time to check for the address, will add it as soon as the hackathon ends!

If there are other addresses that would benefit being labeled lmk.

Running a node was a no-brainer tbh, hopefully there will be more in the future.

[pacu]

Congratulations! It looks really nice!

[nullcopy]

I love this. Is this self-hostable?

[Kenbak]

It’s open source, documentation could be better, I had to go fast because of the hackathon. Once it’s done I’ll try to put some clearer order in the documentation. You have the frontend code for sure, and some bits of the server, but probably not the postgres schema yet.

[pacu]

Hi @Kenbak! Is CipherScan backed by Zebra or Zcashd?

[conradoplg]

Great work, congratulations!

My selfish suggestion is a light mode toggle

[Kenbak]

Hey @pacu Zebra!

[aaal]

Mainnet has been added to the Block Explorer Directory thread:

Block Explorer Directory

I made a survey of Block Explorers for Zcash available on the web right now.* I hope it is valuable to the community as-is, and also can be extended if other community members want to offer links or updates. ZCASH BLOCK EXPLORER DIRECTORY MAINNET Nighthawk, by cacho. ZCG Funded. Pledged no trackers. Onion address available. http://zcashfgzdzxwiy7yq74uejvo2ykppu4pzgioplcvdnpmc6gcu5k6vwyd.onion/ Fork of Nighthawk, by emersonian. Previously ZCG funded, now crowdfunded. no IP logging policy. r…

The UI looks really sharp! Nice work!

[Kenbak]

Hey everyone, it’s been a while since my last update. Here’s what’s new on CipherScan:

1. Light Mode

Finally. You asked, I delivered. CipherScan now has a proper light theme. Toggle it from the navbar. Your eyes can thank me later. (@conradoplg)

2. ZEC Flows

Real-time tracking of cross-chain ZEC swaps via NEAR Intents:

• Inflows & Outflows: See which chains are swapping into ZEC and out of ZEC (ETH, SOL, BTC, etc.)

• Recent swaps: Live feed of individual swap transactions with status

• 24h volume: Total value of ZEC swapped across chains

3. Privacy Risk Detection

This one’s the big one.

CipherScan now flags potential round-trip behavior: when someone shields ZEC, waits a bit, then unshields roughly the same amount. That pattern can make addresses linkable.

The idea came from a conversation on X about how timing + amount correlation can break privacy even when using the shielded pool.

What it does:

• Scans for shield → unshield pairs with similar amounts and timing

• Scores each pair based on how suspicious the pattern looks

• Shows which transactions might be connected

Educational tools included:

• Popular amounts: See what amounts people commonly shield, so you can blend in

• Privacy tips: Vary your amounts, stay shielded longer, ZODL

Important disclaimer: This is heuristic-based. False positives are possible. It’s education, not accusation.

Try it → CipherScan - Zcash Blockchain Explorer

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Curious what you all think!

[gigantes]

@Kenbak

3. Privacy Risk Detection

This one’s the big one.

Pretty cool feature.

[Kenbak]

Hey everyone, quick update on what’s new since last time:

1. Full UI Redesign

CipherScan got a complete visual overhaul. Cleaner layouts, better typography, proper light mode that actually looks good now.

The goal was readability and consistency across all pages, homepage, transaction details, address pages, everything.

2. Batch Pattern Detection

Building on the privacy risk detection from last update, we now detect batch payment patterns.

Why does this matter? Batch payments can reveal relationships between addresses even when using the shielded pool.

Still work in progress, but you can see early results on the Privacy Risks page.

→ CipherScan - Zcash Blockchain Explorer

3. Export to JSON/CSV

You can now export blocks, transactions, and address data in JSON or CSV format. One click, no account needed.

Useful for research, accounting, or just keeping your own records.

4. Address Labels + Search

We added verified labels for well-known addresses:

• Binance (cold wallet, hot wallet)

• Kraken

• Coinbase

• Gemini

• Grayscale Zcash Trust

• NEAR Intents Bridge

• ZCG Lockbox

You can now search by name instead of pasting addresses. Type “Kraken” → autocomplete → go.

Your own custom labels (saved locally in your browser) also appear in search suggestions.

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As always, feedback welcome. What would you like to see next?

→ https://cipherscan.app

(There’s more cooking. Stay tuned.)

[Milton]

Wow I missed this, great project!

Could be out of scope, but a feature I like that some explorers have is a world map where you can see the full nodes on the network and even which node produced the latest block.

Here is an example:

Solana Beach | Solana Explorer

There also used to be an Avalanche explorer that had a 3d globe showing the validators, but I think it doesn’t exist anymore.

I also created a node map myself for the Zebra launcher at this repo you can use as inspiration.

[semeano]

Why isn’t @cipherscan/zcash-decoder in the npm registry?

[Kenbak]

Few reasons:

• I didn’t see enough demand for it yet and focused on improving the plateform instead.
• I’m not sure my implementation is the best one yet and i would need some time to review it and improve it.

I’ll add it for sure, just need more time

[Kenbak]

That’s a super cool suggestion! I’ll add it to the list! I’m glad you like the explorer.

I can’t tell you when, but will definitely find a moment to do it!

[Kenbak]

Hey everyone, another update on CipherScan:

1. @cipherscan/zcash-decoder on npm

We published our memo decryption library as an npm package. If you’re building something that needs to decrypt shielded transactions client-side, you can now use it:

npm install @cipherscan/zcash-decoder

What it does:

• Decrypt memos from shielded transactions

• Filter compact blocks to find matching transactions

• Web Worker compatible

• TypeScript native

There’s also an interactive CLI example included, just run:

node node_modules/@cipherscan/zcash-decoder/examples/decrypt-memo.mjs

It’ll prompt you for your viewing key and a transaction ID, then decrypt the memo for you.

Your viewing key never leaves the browser. Same code that powers CipherScan.

→ https://www.npmjs.com/package/@cipherscan/zcash-decoder

2. Rust Indexer

Started building a Rust indexer.

Still work in progress, but it’s already making things faster.

3. Pagination + Unified Address Decoder

Addresses with thousands of transactions now load properly with pagination.

And if you paste a Unified Address, we now decode it and show you what’s inside, the transparent, Sapling, and Orchard receivers. Helps you understand what your UA actually exposes.

As always, feedback welcome. More cooking.

→ https://cipherscan.app