SnowTrace, a well-known blockchain explorer tool for Avalanche, will be discontinuing its website, which is powered by Etherscan’s Explorer-as-a-Service (EaaS) toolkit, on November 30. The SnowTrace team clarified that the shutdown will only affect its Etherscan-powered explorer.
The announcement made on October 30 urges SnowTrace users to secure their backup information, including private name tags and contact verification details, before the shutdown date. The team did not specify the reason for the closure, but some have suggested it might be due to the high service fees charged by Etherscan for its EaaS toolkit. Mikko Ohtama, co-founder of Trading Strategy, estimated that an annual subscription to EaaS could range from $1 million to $2 million. Ohtama stated:
“EtherScan is an excellent product, but smart contract verification needs to be decentralized. Regulators and others will question the reliability of a verification process that relies on source code hosted by a private company in Malaysia.”
Furthermore, Phillip Liu Jr., the head of strategy and operations at Ava Labs, emphasized that the protocol is evolving and is “absolutely not” ceasing its operations. Etherscan’s EaaS service offers blockchains a block explorer and application programming interface (API) solution for a fee. When discontinuing a block explorer, due to reasons such as non-renewal of an EaaS service agreement, insufficient bandwidth, or limited user traffic, it is recommended that users save their essential data, including private name tags, transaction notes, and contract verification details.
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