Verifiable blockchain data, blockchain explorers, and open finance

Open Money leverages blockchain transparency to enhance financial verifiability, accountability, and analytics.

Part of what makes Open Money a major paradigm shift is its radical transparency. This openness is both an opportunity and a challenge, particularly in terms of privacy and security.

One of the most powerful advantages of transparency is the ability to gather and analyze detailed on-chain data. Unlike traditional financial systems, where audits and verification require expensive intermediaries, blockchain makes verifiability and accountability default features rather than costly add-ons.

Blockchain explorers enable anyone to track on-chain activity, from smart contract interactions to wallet balances and transaction histories. This level of openness fosters a financial environment where trust is not assumed but actively verified. Here are three popular blockchain explorers providing critical insights:

Etherscan: A leading Ethereum blockchain explorer that allows users to track transactions, smart contract execution, and wallet balances with detailed analytics. https://etherscan.io
Blockchair: A multi-blockchain explorer offering advanced search and analytics across Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major networks. https://blockchair.com
Blockchain.com Explorer: A widely used Bitcoin and Ethereum explorer that provides real-time transaction tracking and network statistics. https://www.blockchain.com/explorer

Much of the discussion around Open Money emphasizes its "trustless" nature—the idea that these systems eliminate the need for intermediaries to validate transactions. While this is true, a more precise framing is that crypto and web3 systems replace blind trust with verifiable transparency. Users don’t need to trust because they can verify.

Several projects exemplify how blockchain’s open data is being leveraged to transform financial analysis and insight:

DeFiLlama: A leading DeFi analytics aggregator that tracks total value locked (TVL) across protocols, offering insights into liquidity trends and protocol adoption. https://defillama.com
Dune Analytics: A powerful community-driven platform that enables users to create and share custom blockchain data queries, making on-chain intelligence accessible and interactive. https://dune.com
Glassnode: A blockchain analytics firm that provides in-depth on-chain metrics, market insights, and investor behavior analysis to inform trading and investment strategies. https://glassnode.com

The implications of this openness extend across different scales. At an individual level, transparent financial data helps users detect fraud and avoid scams. For developers, open analytics provide insight into network usage, enabling smarter infrastructure development. On a broader level, this transparency supports regulatory compliance efforts and economic analysis.

However, transparency isn’t without its drawbacks. While it enhances accountability, it also raises concerns about privacy. A fully open ledger means transaction histories are permanently visible, potentially exposing sensitive financial behaviors.

The next evolution of Open Money will involve privacy-preserving technologies—zero-knowledge proofs, mixnets, and other cryptographic techniques—to balance openness with user protection. The goal is to ensure financial networks remain transparent and verifiable while safeguarding individual privacy.

Open Money represents a fundamental rethinking of financial infrastructure. Its greatest strength—transparency—is also its greatest challenge. But by embracing innovation at the intersection of privacy and openness, we can build systems that are not only accountable but also equitable and secure.

This post is part of the Open Money project, an ongoing series that forms the basis of a longer work. Subscribe to get a weekly update as it unfolds.

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