# Bitcoin RPC Node  
The Original Blockchain

Connect to Bitcoin, the world's first and most secure blockchain. Access the $1.3T+ network for wallet development, payment processing, ordinals, and Layer 2 integration.

[Documentation](https://docs-rpc.crypto-chief.com/chains/bitcoin) [Get a free endpoint ](https://auth.crypto-chief.com/registration)

##### 25 M+

Requests per Day

##### 99.99 %

Network Uptime

##### < 50 ms

Average Response Time

##### 24/7

Technical Support

## Specification Bitcoin Network

Technical characteristics, JSON-RPC and Blockbook endpoints

![Bitcoin (BTC)](/img/protocols/btc.svg)

### Bitcoin (BTC)

Mainnet JSON-RPC and Blockbook indexer endpoints

Market Cap $1.3T+

Protocol HTTPS

Uptime 99.99%

Block Time \~10min

Consensus Proof of Work

Launch Date January 2009

Bitcoin is the original blockchain and cryptocurrency, launched in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. As the world's most secure and decentralized network with $1.3T+ market capitalization, Bitcoin serves as digital gold, a store of value, and the foundation for the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. With recent innovations like Ordinals, Taproot, and Lightning Network, Bitcoin continues evolving beyond simple peer-to-peer cash.

#### Key capabilities:

- Most secure blockchain — backed by massive hash power
- Largest cryptocurrency by market cap ($1.3T+)
- Proof of Work consensus — battle-tested since 2009
- 21 million BTC fixed supply (deflationary)
- Lightning Network for instant, cheap payments
- Taproot upgrade enabling advanced functionality
- Ordinals and Bitcoin NFTs (inscriptions)
- Foundation for Layer 2s (Stacks, RGB, etc.)
- Global network of 15,000+ nodes

#### 🔗 RPC Endpoints

HTTPS

`https://rpc.crypto-chief.com/bitcoin/{YOUR_API_KEY}`

BLOCKBOOK

`https://rpc.crypto-chief.com/bitcoin-blockbook/{YOUR_API_KEY}`

Two endpoints: a Bitcoin Core JSON-RPC for full-node operations (broadcasting, raw transactions, UTXO queries), and a Blockbook REST API for indexed address history, balances and transaction lookups.

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## What is a Bitcoin RPC Node?

Access the original blockchain

A Bitcoin RPC node provides applications with direct access to the Bitcoin blockchain for querying transactions, monitoring addresses, broadcasting transactions, and building wallets or payment systems. As the foundation of cryptocurrency, Bitcoin's RPC interface enables developers to interact with the most secure and decentralized network in existence.

### Why Bitcoin remains dominant

Bitcoin's simplicity is its strength. While other blockchains add features and complexity, Bitcoin focuses relentlessly on security and decentralization. The network's **hash power** — computational resources securing it — dwarfs all other blockchains combined. This makes Bitcoin essentially impossible to attack, creating the most trustworthy foundation for digital value.

**Bitcoin advantages:**

- **Maximum security** — most hash power, most decentralized
- **Store of value** — digital gold with fixed 21M supply
- **Network effect** — largest user base and adoption
- **Battle-tested** — 15+ years without downtime
- **Layer 2 foundation** — base layer for Lightning, Stacks, etc.
- **Recent innovation** — Ordinals, Taproot, RGB protocols

### Proof of Work consensus

Bitcoin uses **Proof of Work** — miners compete to solve cryptographic puzzles using computational power. This process is intentionally resource-intensive, making attacks prohibitively expensive. Every 10 minutes, a miner wins the race, creates a block, and receives newly minted bitcoin plus transaction fees.

**How Bitcoin works:**

1. Users broadcast transactions to the network
2. Miners collect transactions into blocks
3. Miners compete to solve Proof of Work puzzle
4. Winning miner broadcasts new block
5. Network validates and adds block to chain

### Bitcoin's evolution

Bitcoin innovation continues with **Lightning Network** (instant, low-fee payments), **Taproot** (privacy and smart contract improvements), **Ordinals** (Bitcoin NFTs), and Layer 2 solutions bringing DeFi to Bitcoin. These developments expand Bitcoin's utility while maintaining its core security properties.

As the base layer for an emerging multi-layer Bitcoin ecosystem, direct RPC access enables developers to build the next generation of Bitcoin applications.

### JSON-RPC vs Blockbook — when to use which

We expose two complementary APIs for every UTXO chain. The **Bitcoin Core JSON-RPC** endpoint speaks the canonical full-node protocol — use it to broadcast transactions, fetch raw transactions, query mempool state and run anything that needs full-node semantics. The **Blockbook REST API** wraps the chain in an address-indexed layer — use it for wallet UX and analytics: look up an address's balance, total received, transaction history and ready-to-spend UTXOs in a single HTTP call without iterating blocks yourself.

**Picking the right endpoint:**

- **JSON-RPC** (`/bitcoin/`) — broadcasting transactions, raw tx queries, mempool, fee estimation, full-node operations
- **Blockbook REST** (`/bitcoin-blockbook/`) — address balance, address tx history, UTXO list, txid lookup by address, indexed analytics

## Technical Documentation

Quick start for developers

### Supported RPC Methods

Bitcoin RPC supports standard Bitcoin Core methods:

- **getblockcount** — current block height
- **getblock** — block data by hash
- **getblockhash** — block hash by height
- **getrawtransaction** — transaction data
- **sendrawtransaction** — broadcast transaction
- **getbalance** — wallet balance
- **listunspent** — UTXOs for address
- **estimatesmartfee** — fee estimation
- **getmempoolinfo** — mempool statistics

### Code Examples

💻

#### JavaScript — Bitcoin RPC Connection:

```
const axios = require('axios');

const RPC_URL = 'https://rpc.crypto-chief.com/bitcoin/YOUR_API_KEY';

// Get current block height
async function getBlockHeight() {
  const response = await axios.post(RPC_URL, {
    jsonrpc: '1.0',
    id: 1,
    method: 'getblockcount',
    params: []
  });
  
  console.log('Bitcoin block height:', response.data.result);
  return response.data.result;
}

// Get block data
async function getBlock(blockHash) {
  const response = await axios.post(RPC_URL, {
    jsonrpc: '1.0',
    id: 1,
    method: 'getblock',
    params: [blockHash, 2] // verbosity 2 = full transaction data
  });
  
  const block = response.data.result;
  console.log(`Block ${block.height}: ${block.tx.length} transactions`);
  return block;
}

getBlockHeight();
```

💻

#### Python — Bitcoin RPC Setup:

```
import requests

RPC_URL = 'https://rpc.crypto-chief.com/bitcoin/YOUR_API_KEY'

def get_block_height():
    payload = {
        'jsonrpc': '1.0',
        'id': 1,
        'method': 'getblockcount',
        'params': []
    }
    
    response = requests.post(RPC_URL, json=payload)
    height = response.json()['result']
    print(f'Bitcoin height: {height}')
    return height

def get_transaction(txid):
    payload = {
        'jsonrpc': '1.0',
        'id': 1,
        'method': 'getrawtransaction',
        'params': [txid, True]  # True = decoded
    }
    
    response = requests.post(RPC_URL, json=payload)
    tx = response.json()['result']
    print(f'TX {txid[:8]}: {len(tx["vout"])} outputs')
    return tx

get_block_height()
```

💻

#### Monitor Bitcoin Mempool:

```
const axios = require('axios');

const RPC_URL = 'https://rpc.crypto-chief.com/bitcoin/YOUR_API_KEY';

// Monitor mempool size
async function monitorMempool() {
  const response = await axios.post(RPC_URL, {
    jsonrpc: '1.0',
    id: 1,
    method: 'getmempoolinfo',
    params: []
  });
  
  const mempool = response.data.result;
  console.log(`Mempool: ${mempool.size} txs, ${mempool.bytes} bytes`);
  console.log(`Memory usage: ${(mempool.usage / 1024 / 1024).toFixed(2)} MB`);
}

// Estimate transaction fee
async function estimateFee(blocks = 6) {
  const response = await axios.post(RPC_URL, {
    jsonrpc: '1.0',
    id: 1,
    method: 'estimatesmartfee',
    params: [blocks]
  });
  
  const feeRate = response.data.result.feerate;
  console.log(`Estimated fee (${blocks} blocks): ${feeRate} BTC/kB`);
  return feeRate;
}

monitorMempool();
estimateFee();
```

💻

#### Blockbook — Address History & Balance:

```
// Blockbook REST API — indexed address queries
const BB_URL = 'https://rpc.crypto-chief.com/bitcoin-blockbook/YOUR_API_KEY';

// Get address summary: balance, total received, transactions list
async function getAddress(address) {
  const res = await fetch(`${BB_URL}/api/v2/address/${address}`);
  const data = await res.json();
  console.log('Balance:', data.balance, 'satoshis');
  console.log('Total received:', data.totalReceived);
  console.log('Tx count:', data.txs);
  return data;
}

// List UTXOs for an address (ready-to-spend outputs)
async function getUtxos(address) {
  const res = await fetch(`${BB_URL}/api/v2/utxo/${address}`);
  return await res.json();
}

getAddress('bc1q...');
```

### Bitcoin Best Practices

- **UTXO Model:** Understand Bitcoin's UTXO-based transaction model
- **Fee Estimation:** Use estimatesmartfee for dynamic fee calculation
- **Confirmations:** Wait for 6+ confirmations for security
- **Address Types:** Support Legacy, SegWit, and Taproot addresses
- **Lightning:** Consider Lightning Network for instant payments
- **Testing:** Test thoroughly on Bitcoin testnet

## Why choose us?

Enterprise Bitcoin infrastructure

### Maximum Security

Infrastructure supporting the world's most secure blockchain delivering &lt;50ms latency with 99.99% uptime.

### Real-Time Analytics

Monitor blocks, transactions, mempool, hash rate, difficulty, and network health in real-time.

### Global Infrastructure

Strategically deployed full nodes ensuring reliable Bitcoin network access worldwide.

### Full Archive

Complete blockchain history from genesis block for analysis, compliance, and historical queries.

### Massive Scale

Infrastructure handling millions of daily requests for wallets, exchanges, and payment processors.

### Bitcoin Experts

24/7 support from engineers with deep Bitcoin protocol, UTXO model, and Layer 2 expertise.

## Examples of Use

Build on Bitcoin foundation

Bitcoin RPC access enables wallets, payment systems, analytics platforms, and Layer 2 applications built on the world's most secure blockchain.

#### Wallet Development

Build Bitcoin wallets with address generation, balance tracking, transaction broadcasting, and UTXO management.

#### Payment Processing

Create payment systems for merchants accepting Bitcoin with real-time confirmation monitoring and fee optimization.

#### Lightning Integration

Develop Lightning Network applications for instant, low-fee Bitcoin payments leveraging Layer 2 scalability.

#### Ordinals & Inscriptions

Build platforms for Bitcoin NFTs (Ordinals) with inscription creation, marketplace, and collection management.

#### Analytics Platforms

Create blockchain analytics, monitoring, and intelligence platforms analyzing Bitcoin transaction flows.

#### Layer 2 Development

Build Layer 2 solutions (Stacks, RGB, Rootstock) using Bitcoin as settlement and security layer.

## Got questions?  
we are here to help

## What is Bitcoin? 

Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency and blockchain, launched in 2009, serving as decentralized digital money and store of value with $1.3T+ market cap.

## How does Bitcoin mining work? 

Miners use computational power to solve Proof of Work puzzles. The winner creates the next block and receives newly minted bitcoin plus transaction fees.

## Why is Bitcoin limited to 21 million? 

Bitcoin's 21 million coin limit is hardcoded in the protocol, creating scarcity similar to gold, making Bitcoin deflationary and resistant to inflation.

## What are Bitcoin transaction fees? 

Fees vary based on network congestion and transaction size (bytes). Users can set fees; higher fees = faster confirmation.

## How long do Bitcoin confirmations take? 

Bitcoin produces blocks every \~10 minutes. Most services require 3-6 confirmations (30-60 minutes) for security.

## What is the Lightning Network? 

Lightning is Bitcoin's Layer 2 enabling instant, low-fee payments through off-chain payment channels that settle on Bitcoin.

## What are Bitcoin Ordinals? 

Ordinals (inscriptions) are Bitcoin NFTs created by inscribing data directly onto individual satoshis using Taproot.

## Can Bitcoin handle smart contracts? 

Bitcoin has limited native scripting. Advanced functionality comes through Layer 2s like Stacks, RGB, or Rootstock.

## Do you support Bitcoin testnet? 

Yes, we provide RPC access to both Bitcoin mainnet and testnet for development and testing.

## What's the difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum? 

Bitcoin focuses on being digital gold and money. Ethereum focuses on smart contracts and programmable applications.

## What's the difference between the JSON-RPC and Blockbook endpoints? 

The main <code>/bitcoin/</code> endpoint is Bitcoin Core JSON-RPC — use it for broadcasting transactions, raw tx and mempool operations. The <code>/bitcoin-blockbook/</code> endpoint is the Trezor Blockbook indexed REST API — use it for address history, balance queries, UTXO listings and other indexed lookups that would be slow to compute from raw block scanning.

## Pricing that grows with your needs.

### Free

Start building on Web3 — no credit card.

##### $0

- 5 reqs/sec RPC
- 5 reqs/min Unified API
- 1 req/day AML
- Ultimate chains
- WSS, Statistics
- Community support

[Get started ](https://auth.crypto-chief.com/registration)

### Pay for use

Flexible pay-as-you-go for any workload.

##### From $10

- 400 reqs/sec RPC
- 300 reqs/min Unified API
- 5 reqs/sec AML
- EventStream
- Ultimate chains
- WSS, Whitelists, Statistics
- Support portal

[Get started](https://auth.crypto-chief.com/registration)

### Subscription

From $500 monthly plus 20% extra value.

##### From $500

- 400 reqs/sec RPC
- 300 reqs/min Unified API
- 5 reqs/sec AML
- EventStream
- Ultimate chains
- WSS, Whitelists, Statistics
- Support portal

[Get started ](https://auth.crypto-chief.com/registration)

### Enterprise

Tailored solution for expert builders

##### Custom terms

All Subscription features plus:

- Flexible rate limits
- Engineering team support
- Custom SLA
- Personal manager

[Contact Sales ](/contact/)