Bitcoin is the first decentralized, peer-to-peer digital currency. It allows users to send and receive payments without the need for intermediaries like banks. Bitcoin uses a UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output) model and is secured by proof-of-work mining.
The Bitcoin API allows developers to interact with the Bitcoin network using JSON-RPC methods. Through the API, developers can retrieve data about blocks, transactions, and the mempool, as well as broadcast new transactions to the network.
Check out our Bitcoin API Quickstart guide for setup instructions, sample code, and your first API call.
Not in the same way as EVM-based chains. Bitcoin supports basic scripting for transactions, but does not have a full smart contract virtual machine like Ethereum. More advanced contract-like functionality is being explored via protocols like Taproot and Ordinals.
Bitcoin Core implements a standard JSON-RPC interface for querying blockchain data and submitting transactions.
When accessing the Bitcoin Chain network via a node provider like Alchemy, developers use an API key to send transactions and retrieve data from the network.
You can use any HTTP client that supports JSON payloads — e.g., axios, fetch, requests, or curl. There are also Bitcoin-specific libraries like bitcoin-core (Node.js), python-bitcoinrpc, and btcd (Go) for deeper integration.
The API works with any programming language that can send JSON over HTTP. Common choices include JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Go, and Java.
Bitcoin transaction fees are paid in BTC. They are calculated per virtual byte (vByte) of transaction data and are used to incentivize miners to include transactions in blocks.
You can find a full list of supported JSON-RPC methods on the Bitcoin API Endpoints page.
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