Alpen is a Bitcoin-native, EVM-compatible chain built by Alpen Labs. It uses zero-knowledge proofs to inherit Bitcoin's security while offering fast, low-cost smart contract execution. Alpen Testnet is the public test network where developers can experiment with Bitcoin-secured financial applications like lending, borrowing, trading, and stablecoins, without giving up custody of BTC.
The Alpen API allows you to interact with the Alpen network through a set of JSON-RPC methods. It supports operations like smart contract deployment, transaction submission, and state reads, so you can integrate Alpen into your applications with the same tooling you already use for Ethereum.
Follow the Alpen API Quickstart Guide.
Yes. Alpen is EVM-compatible, so you can deploy Solidity smart contracts and use existing Ethereum development tools like Hardhat, Foundry, viem, ethers.js, and web3.js against Alpen Testnet.
Alpen uses the JSON-RPC API standard, which is widely used across the Ethereum ecosystem. This provides a familiar and efficient interface for building and querying onchain state.
When you access the Alpen network through Alchemy, you need an API key to send transactions and retrieve data. The API key authenticates your requests to the Alpen RPC endpoint.
As an EVM-compatible chain, Alpen works with popular Ethereum libraries such as viem, ethers.js, web3.js, and any other client that speaks standard Ethereum JSON-RPC.
Alpen supports Solidity for smart contract development thanks to its EVM compatibility. For offchain interactions, you can use JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust, or any other language with a JSON-RPC or Ethereum client library.
Alpen uses BTC as its native gas token. Transactions on Alpen Testnet are paid for in testnet BTC, which developers can obtain from the Alpen Testnet faucet.
Not yet. Alpen is currently in public testnet. Alpen Labs has stated that mainnet will follow after further testnet iterations. Refer to the Alpen Labs website for the latest roadmap.
If you have any questions or feedback, contact us at [email protected] or open a ticket in the Alchemy Dashboard.