Solana and TON are young, high-performance networks with their own architecture, which differs noticeably from both UTXO-based Bitcoin and the familiar Ethereum. To read their history correctly, you need to understand Solana's account model, the difference between programs and wallets, TON's specifics, and Solana's main trap for the retail user — the memecoin scam.
Solana uses an account model, but one arranged in a distinctive way. In Solana everything is an account — a wallet, a token balance, the program (smart contract) itself, and a data store. An account is a cell of data with an owner and an address (a public key in base58 format, for example 7xKq...9dR, without the familiar 0x prefix).
The most important feature for tracing: a token's balance (for example USDC or a memecoin) is stored not on the wallet itself, but in a separate associated token account (ATA — Associated Token Account) tied to your main address. That is, one owner has a main address (holding native SOL) and many child token accounts for each token. A beginner looking at the history is easily confused: token transfers go "through" these child accounts, and you have to know how to link them to the owner.
In the Ethereum world we're used to dividing addresses into "user wallets" (EOA) and "contracts." In Solana there is a similar division, but with a twist: programs (programmable logic, the analogue of smart contracts) do not store state themselves — they are "stateless" and work with data lying in separate accounts. This is a separation of code and data.
The practical meaning when checking: you need to distinguish interaction with a program (a DEX like Raydium/Jupiter, staking, an NFT marketplace) from a direct transfer between wallets. A transaction "user → DEX program → user" is a swap, not sending funds to a third party. Failing to recognise this, it's easy to mistakenly record a legitimate exchange on a DEX as a suspicious transfer. Solana transactions also often contain multiple instructions at once (in a single transaction — a swap + a transfer + a fee), which makes them harder for a newcomer to read.
The main public tool is solscan.io (the alternative solana.fm is also popular). What to look at:
TON (The Open Network), historically linked to the Telegram ecosystem, is another architecturally distinctive network. Its key features for a checker:
The main explorer is tonviewer.com (also tonscan.org). Tonviewer clearly unfolds message chains, shows jetton balances and links token wallets to the owner. When checking a TON address, keep the asynchrony in mind: a single user action can spawn several internal messages, and all of them are part of one operation.
A separate and highly topical subject is memecoin fraud on Solana. Cheap and fast transactions plus instant token-launch tools (launchpad platforms) have turned the network into a memecoin conveyor belt, of which a huge share is scams.
Solana and TON show that there is no "universal" way to read a blockchain: account models, token accounts, programs and asynchronous messages require an understanding of the specific network's architecture. The general principle, however, is unchanged across all the lessons of this section — from Bitcoin to TON: a manual explorer answers "what happened," while a conscious AML check answers "how dangerous is it and should these funds be accepted." By combining an understanding of the network with attribution tools, you make decisions based on facts, not guesswork.
This material is educational and does not constitute legal advice.