Top Avalanche Block Explorer Snowtrace Is Abandoning Etherscan

Snowtrace, the popular block explorer for the Avalanche network, announced it will shut down its current Etherscan-powered iteration by the end of November.

Avalanche and Snowtrace announced the news via tweet on Oct. 30. Snowtrace is currently powered by Etherscan’s Explorer-as-a-Service solution, which provides a block explorer and API solution to clients. The team now plans to replace Etherscan’s EaaS with a solution provided by Avascan, an Avalanche-native blockchain explorer provider.

Avalanche highlighted that the transition will enable Snowtrace users to explore each Avalanche network and all Subnet appchains. Etherscan’s EaaS only supports the Avalanche C-Chain, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible Layer 1 and the largest network in the Avalanche ecosystem.

“The current version of Snowtrace by Etherscan is being sunset and replaced by a new version run by Avascan,” Avalanche said. “Users will continue to enjoy a similar interface, URLs, and APIs they're currently using, now supporting the C-Chain and all Subnets.”

Snowtrace urged users to backup any important data before the Nov. 30 deadline, such as private wallet and transaction tags, contract verification details, and Application Binary Interfaces. Avalanche said users won’t experience any disruption to services amid the Nov. 30 transition.

A demo deployment of the new explorer is currently live. Phillip Liu, head of strategy and operations at Ava Labs, described the new platform as blending the features offered by Etherscan and DeBank.

AVAX is trending sideways at $11.6, up just 6.4% this year, according to CoinGecko.

The news comes as Avalanche is increasingly pivoting towards focusing on building out its Subnets architecture rather than fostering growth on the Avalanche C-chain.

The Avalanche C-Chain has struggled to stand out amid rival low-cost Layer 1s amid the downtrend, with Avalanche’s total value locked crashing 94% since April 2022 and 28.5% since the start of the year, according to DeFi Llama.

However, Subnets enable the creation of bespoke appchains supporting advanced features such as custom network gas tokens, tailor virtual machines, and data encryption. In Q2 2023, Avalanche launched Evergreen Subnets, enabling KYC requirements and other functions designed for financial institutions.