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Ethereum API Overview

In order to interact with the Ethereum blockchain, dapps need to use an API to read and write to an Ethereum node and execute smart contracts.

Coinbase Node makes it easy to use the Ethereum API with Instant API Access to shared Ethereum nodes, hosted and managed by Coinbase Cloud.

The native Ethereum API uses the JSON-RPC protocol. JSON-RPC is a remote procedure call protocol encoded in JSON which is common throughout the Ethereum ecosystem. JSON-RPC is ideal for distributed ledger technologies, like Ethereum, because it is stateless, lightweight and can be used with any communication protocol, like TCP or WebSockets, although HTTP is still standard.

Supported Methods​

Coinbase Node supports the following Ethereum API methods:

Getting blocks​

Get information about particular blocks in the blockchain.

Getting and sending transactions​

Get information about blockchain transactions and send transactions.

Getting account information​

Get information about an address's on-chain data.

Getting Ethereum chain information and network configuration​

Get information about the Ethereum network and its configuration.

Handling smart contracts​

Execute smart contracts and get information about what smart contracts were executed.

Getting information about Uncle blocks​

Uncle blocks are blocks that were mined at nearly the same time as the "canonical" block that gets added to the blockchain. See the Ethereum glossary for more information.

Coinbase Node doesn't currently support certain Ethereum API methods, like the subscription and filter methods.

To learn more about the native Ethereum API, see the Ethereum JSON-RPC documentation.

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