Raising the Bar for Bitcoin Application Performance with the Blockstream Explorer API

Raising the Bar for Bitcoin Application Performance with the Blockstream Explorer API
Raising the Bar for Bitcoin Application Performance with the Blockstream Explorer API

Bitcoin adoption is climbing. Developer mindshare is returning to Bitcoin as the dominant chain for constructing severe purposes. Wallets are getting sooner, exchanges are scaling up, and institutional platforms are going dwell. This progress calls for infrastructure that may hold tempo.

The Blockstream Explorer API offers real-time entry to Bitcoin and Liquid blockchain knowledge—blocks, transactions, addresses, and asset info—via a REST interface that manufacturing purposes depend on. With the newest 25.12 launch, Explorer introduces clear subscription pricing, complete documentation assets, and a modernized dashboard expertise constructed for groups at each stage of progress.

Transparent Pricing That Grows with Your Application

Developer groups want predictable prices and clear improve paths as their purposes scale. Explorer 25.12 introduces three subscription tiers: 

  • Basic for prototypes and aspect tasks ($40/month for 500k calls)
  • Advanced for manufacturing purposes ($100-$2,000/month for 1M-30M calls)
  • Enterprise for institutional-grade infrastructure ($3,000/month for limitless calls. Contact us for customized deployments)
Raising the Bar for Bitcoin Application Performance with the Blockstream Explorer API

The subscription mannequin makes value forecasting simple. Optional auto-upgrade prevents service interruptions when utilization spikes unexpectedly—notably worthwhile throughout market volatility.

Enterprise: Built for Institutional Scale

Enterprise tier offers limitless API calls for $3,000/month. Unlike decrease tiers the place service stops when credit are exhausted (except auto-upgrade is enabled), Enterprise has no utilization caps or price limits. Teams get prompt help via a devoted channel. Access to FastSync—the quickest pockets sync protocol out there—comes at 1:1 pricing with no premium. Optional customized agreements embrace devoted servers, customized SLAs, and tailor-made deployment choices. Enterprise clients get first entry to new options.

For exchanges, custody suppliers, and settlement programs, Enterprise removes infrastructure as a bottleneck. This tier is designed for groups the place uptime is non-negotiable and compliance necessities demand remoted, devoted assets.

FastSync: The Fastest Wallet Sync in Bitcoin

FastSync is constructed on Waterfalls—the descriptor-based sync protocol that launched in September 2025 and has been working in manufacturing wallets since then. We’re taking this chance to elucidate why it issues for pockets builders and their customers. We imagine descriptor-based syncing is how Bitcoin and Liquid wallets will scale in the future.

Traditional block explorers require wallets to generate addresses regionally and question every one individually. Users restoring a pockets wait—typically for hours—as their machine makes lots of or 1000’s of separate API calls to verify every handle for transaction historical past.

FastSync does contain a privateness trade-off: the pockets shares its descriptor with the server, which implies the server can derive all addresses the pockets will generate. For customers who belief Blockstream Explorer infrastructure, this trade-off delivers considerably sooner sync instances. For customers who prioritize most privateness, conventional address-by-address scanning stays out there.

Raising the Bar for Bitcoin Application Performance with the Blockstream Explorer API

FastSync additionally helps UTXO-only sync, permitting wallets to skip full transaction historical past and instantly retrieve solely unspent outputs. For massive wallets with 1000’s of transactions—like exchanges or custody platforms—balances could be restored virtually immediately.

A person downloads a pockets app, enters their restoration phrase, and sees their stability in below a minute. FastSync dramatically reduces bandwidth consumption, which issues for cell networks. Less processing requires much less CPU utilization, which implies longer battery life. Fast sync has grow to be desk stakes for cell apps, and FastSync makes self-custody wallets aggressive with centralized options.

FastSync runs in manufacturing via LWK (Liquid Wallet Kit), with integration into GDK (Blockstream Green Development Kit) in progress. For builders constructing on these SDKs, integration is so simple as upgrading to the newest model. Early benchmarks present an enormous 62% discount in sync time and 65% much less variety of requests required on common.

Integration with Bitcoin Dev Kit (BDK) is coming quickly, which can carry FastSync efficiency advantages to the broader Bitcoin pockets improvement ecosystem.

FastSync pricing is structured to encourage adoption whereas reflecting the extra server-side work these calls carry out. On the Basic tier, one FastSync name counts as 10 commonplace API calls in opposition to your quota—so in case you make one FastSync request, it consumes 10 of your included API credit . On the Advanced tier, the ratio drops to five:1—one FastSync name equals 5 API credit. On the Enterprise tier, FastSync calls are 1:1 with commonplace calls, which means there isn’t any premium in any respect. As groups scale and decide to the Explorer API, FastSync turns into considerably extra economical.

Simplicity Transactions: Making Advanced Bitcoin Scripting Visible

Blockstream.info is the frontend illustration of the knowledge we share via the Blockstream Explorer API. Staying at the absolute forefront of Bitcoin improvement means supporting new protocol options as they go dwell. Simplicity—a next-generation sensible contract language that brings high-assurance, formally verifiable scripting to Bitcoin-based networks—is now live on the Liquid Network. We’ve added full help for Simplicity transaction visualization, displaying Simplicity transaction particulars together with witness knowledge, program encodings (the bytes that make up the Simplicity program), CMR (dedication Merkle root), Taproot management blocks, and script pubkeys in human-readable format. For builders constructing with Simplicity, this transparency into program execution and transaction building is crucial for debugging, verification, and understanding how these superior sensible contracts function on-chain.

A Help Center Built for Developers

Great infrastructure wants nice documentation. The new Explorer API help center offers complete assets with step-by-step guides for each widespread integration sample.

Raising the Bar for Bitcoin Application Performance with the Blockstream Explorer API

The assist middle covers all the things from getting began with an Explorer API account to understanding FastSync implementation, managing API keys securely, monitoring utilization and prices, making REST API requests, and requesting enterprise deployments. Each information contains code examples, finest practices, and sensible troubleshooting recommendation.

Support is now built-in instantly into the dashboard. Developers can open tickets, describe points, and monitor standing in actual time. Automated notifications hold groups up to date when engineers reply.

Raising the Bar for Bitcoin Application Performance with the Blockstream Explorer API

Dashboard Rebuilt: Faster, Clearer, More Predictable

When builders log in, they see all the things at a look: API keys, present utilization in actual time, documentation hyperlinks, well being standing, and fast actions. Clear visible indicators present energetic/inactive state. For groups managing dozens of keys throughout a number of environments, this eliminates operational complications.

Raising the Bar for Bitcoin Application Performance with the Blockstream Explorer API

The analytics web page shows present billing cycle utilization. Usage knowledge is clearly displayed, with invoices out there for obtain.Invoice pages load appropriately, receipt downloads work reliably, and billing cycles show precisely. Proactive credit score warnings alert groups earlier than service throttling begins.

Continuous Improvement: Stability and Reliability

Beyond headline options, 25.12 contains dozens of fixes that make the API extra predictable. Testnet habits is extra secure. Error messages are clearer. Staging and manufacturing responses are actually aligned.

In current months, the free Blockstream Explorer API platform has validated our architectural selections in our enterprise providing. The platform dealt with excessive visitors circumstances that proved the effectiveness of price limiting, workload isolation, and resilience design. These learnings have been included into ongoing hardening—nginx connection capability has been expanded, IPv6 routing enhancements are in progress, and sizing has been tuned primarily based on noticed patterns.

Built for Every Stage of Growth

Individual builders get reasonably priced entry to skilled infrastructure. $40/month offers the identical know-how that powers institutional platforms.

Growing startups get versatile pricing from 1 million to 30 million calls, sooner help, early function entry, and production-scale FastSync pricing.

Enterprise groups get limitless utilization for a hard and fast month-to-month value, customized deployment choices, and infrastructure confirmed at excessive scale with remoted, devoted assets for groups the place uptime is non-negotiable.

Ready to Build?

Whether you are constructing a high-performance pockets that wants FastSync, a buying and selling dashboard that queries real-time blockchain knowledge, or an trade platform that calls for institutional-grade uptime, Explorer API has a tier designed for your use case.

SDK integrations proceed to carry FastSync to extra pockets builders, with BDK integration coming quickly. We’re additionally increasing past REST with Electrum RPC help for enterprise deployments, giving groups low-latency entry for superior use circumstances.

Explorer API continues to evolve into the most dependable option to construct on Bitcoin and Liquid.

To study extra, go to blockstream.info/explorer-api

For enterprise deployments, attain out for enquiry here.