Blockscout + TKN: Providing Decentralized Sources of Truth
When searching tokens in an explorer, it's vital that relevant, verifiable, and accurate information accompanies the token basics. For example:
- Descriptions and links to project information (like github or social media accounts) give users needed context and peace of mind.
- Relevant and contextual data (known as metadata) protects users from interacting with fake or suspicious tokens.
- Resources related to any token of interest give users a chance to research and explore new projects using links they can trust.
Since information is often stored in different places outside of the explorer environment, there is a need to find and serve metadata from other sources. With the Token Name Service (TKN) integration, Blockscout is able to provide accurate token information using a decentralized and transparent source of truth.
TKN is a community-owned registry that allocates symbols for tokens (ie $ETH, $USDC) and provides a shared dataset of metadata related to tokens. The registry data exists on Ethereum Mainnet, and anyone can submit edits or updates. TKN is not available for every chain (see the of supported EVM network chains here), but when it is available, it is a valuable source of truth.
Submissions to the dataset can be made by anyone, and accepted by any TKN staker participating in the TokenDAO. All changes are subject to timelocks for community review before they are published. These features allow for a community-run, decentralized approach to information curation and availability.
How TKN is integrated with Blockscout
When serving information to users, Blockscout queries various APIs to provide as much metadata as possible. This includes querying the TKN dataset to retrieve info like the name, logo, description, project url, and links to Github and Twitter (X). Relevant information is provided instantly to users via the info icon dropdown. This dropdown appears automatically on any token page registered in TKN.
TKN provides an essential source of information as it covers many tokens that may not be included in more centralized aggregators such as Coingecko or CoinMarketCap (which Blockscout also queries to provide additional contextual info). However, a token must first exist in TKN to display the relevant metadata.
At Blockscout, we encourage projects and users to submit their project information to the Token Name Service dataset! It helps collect, serve, and provide valuable and decentralized token information to all users.