Blockscout ETH RPC Methods Reference

Complete reference for all 16 Ethereum JSON-RPC methods supported by Blockscout.

📋 Quick Reference

PRO API Methods use POST requests to api.blockscout.com/{chain_id}/json-rpc with JSON-RPC 2.0 format. An API key is required, including on the free tier.

Per instance methods use POST requests to {instance_url}/api/eth-rpc with JSON-RPC 2.0 format. An API key is not required but will increase RPS for your calls.

Try these methods in the ETH RPC Endpoint Testing section

PRO API usage

https://api.blockscout.com/{instance}/json-rpc

Examples:

Ethereum: https://api.blockscout.com/1/json-rpc
Optimism: https://api.blockscout.com/10/json-rpc

Base URL Pattern (per instance)

https://{instance}.blockscout.com/api/eth-rpc

Examples:

Ethereum: https://eth.blockscout.com/api/eth-rpc
Optimism: https://optimism.blockscout.com/api/eth-rpc

🔢 Methods Overview

Read Operations (State Queries)

Method	Description	Parameters
`eth_blockNumber`	Get latest block number	None
`eth_getBalance`	Get account balance	address, block
`eth_getTransactionCount`	Get nonce	address, block
`eth_getCode`	Get contract bytecode	address, block
`eth_getStorageAt`	Get storage value	address, position, block
`eth_gasPrice`	Get current gas price	None
`eth_maxPriorityFeePerGas`	Get max priority fee	None
`eth_chainId`	Get chain ID	None

Transaction Operations

Method	Description	Parameters
`eth_getTransactionByHash`	Get transaction details	hash
`eth_getTransactionReceipt`	Get transaction receipt	hash
`eth_sendRawTransaction`	Submit signed transaction	signedData

Block Operations

Method	Description	Parameters
`eth_getBlockByNumber`	Get block by number	blockNumber, fullTx
`eth_getBlockByHash`	Get block by hash	blockHash, fullTx

Call Operations

Method	Description	Parameters
`eth_call`	Execute contract call	transaction, block
`eth_estimateGas`	Estimate gas cost	transaction, block

Log Operations

Method	Description	Parameters
`eth_getLogs`	Get event logs	filter

📚 Detailed Method Specifications

1. eth_blockNumber

Purpose: Get the latest block number in the chain. Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_blockNumber",
  "params": [],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": "0x1234567",
  "id": 1
}

2. eth_getBalance

Purpose: Get the balance of an account at a given address. Parameters:

address (string): 20-byte address to check
block (string): Block number in hex, or “latest”, “earliest”, “pending”

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_getBalance",
  "params": [
    "0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045",
    "latest"
  ],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": "0x1d863bf76508104fb",
  "id": 1
}

Note: Result is in wei (hexadecimal).

3. eth_getLogs

Purpose: Get event logs matching a filter. Parameters:

filter (object): Filter criteria
- fromBlock (string): Starting block
- toBlock (string): Ending block
- address (string|array): Contract address(es)
- topics (array): Topic filters

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_getLogs",
  "params": [{
    "address": "0x6B175474E89094C44Da98b954EedeAC495271d0F",
    "fromBlock": "0x1234567",
    "toBlock": "latest",
    "topics": ["0xddf252ad1be2c89b69c2b068fc378daa952ba7f163c4a11628f55a4df523b3ef"]
  }],
  "id": 1
}

Limitations: Maximum 1000 logs per request. Use pagination for more.

4. eth_gasPrice

Purpose: Get current gas price. Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_gasPrice",
  "params": [],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": "0x4a817c800",
  "id": 1
}

5. eth_getTransactionByHash

Purpose: Get transaction details by hash. Parameters:

hash (string): 32-byte transaction hash

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_getTransactionByHash",
  "params": ["0x88df016429689c079f3b2f6ad39fa052532c56795b733da78a91ebe6a713944b"],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": {
    "hash": "0x88df016429689c079f3b2f6ad39fa052532c56795b733da78a91ebe6a713944b",
    "from": "0x...",
    "to": "0x...",
    "value": "0x...",
    "gas": "0x...",
    "gasPrice": "0x...",
    "input": "0x...",
    "nonce": "0x...",
    "blockNumber": "0x...",
    "blockHash": "0x...",
    "transactionIndex": "0x..."
  },
  "id": 1
}

6. eth_getTransactionReceipt

Purpose: Get transaction receipt including logs and status. Parameters:

hash (string): 32-byte transaction hash

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_getTransactionReceipt",
  "params": ["0x88df016429689c079f3b2f6ad39fa052532c56795b733da78a91ebe6a713944b"],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": {
    "transactionHash": "0x88df...",
    "transactionIndex": "0x1",
    "blockHash": "0x...",
    "blockNumber": "0x...",
    "from": "0x...",
    "to": "0x...",
    "cumulativeGasUsed": "0x...",
    "gasUsed": "0x5208",
    "contractAddress": null,
    "logs": [],
    "logsBloom": "0x...",
    "status": "0x1",
    "effectiveGasPrice": "0x..."
  },
  "id": 1
}

Status values:

0x1 = Success
0x0 = Failure

7. eth_chainId

Purpose: Get the chain ID for signing replay-protected transactions. Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_chainId",
  "params": [],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": "0x1",
  "id": 1
}

Common Chain IDs:

0x1 = Ethereum Mainnet
0x2105 = Base
0xa = Optimism
0x64 = Gnosis Chain

8. eth_maxPriorityFeePerGas

Purpose: Get max priority fee per gas for EIP-1559 transactions. Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_maxPriorityFeePerGas",
  "params": [],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": "0x59682f00",
  "id": 1
}

9. eth_getTransactionCount

Purpose: Get the nonce (transaction count) for an address. Parameters:

address (string): 20-byte address
block (string): Block number in hex, or “latest”, “earliest”, “pending”

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_getTransactionCount",
  "params": [
    "0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045",
    "latest"
  ],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": "0x5",
  "id": 1
}

10. eth_getCode

Purpose: Get the bytecode at a given address (smart contract code). Parameters:

address (string): 20-byte address
block (string): Block number in hex, or “latest”, “earliest”, “pending”

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_getCode",
  "params": [
    "0xa94f5374fce5edbc8e2a8697c15331677e6ebf0b",
    "latest"
  ],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": "0x600160008035811a818181146012578301005b601b6001356025565b8060005260206000f25b600060078202905091905056",
  "id": 1
}

Note: Returns “0x” for EOAs (non-contract addresses).

11. eth_getStorageAt

Purpose: Get value from a storage position at a given address. Parameters:

address (string): 20-byte address of the storage
position (string): Position in hex
block (string): Block number in hex, or “latest”, “earliest”, “pending”

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_getStorageAt",
  "params": [
    "0x295a70b2de5e3953354a6a8344e616ed314d7251",
    "0x0",
    "latest"
  ],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "id": 1
}

12. eth_estimateGas

Purpose: Estimate gas required to execute a transaction. Parameters:

transaction (object): Transaction call object
- from (string, optional): Sender address
- to (string): Recipient address
- value (string, optional): Value in hex
- data (string, optional): Call data
- gas (string, optional): Gas limit in hex
- gasPrice (string, optional): Gas price in hex
block (string, optional): Block number or “latest”

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_estimateGas",
  "params": [{
    "from": "0x8D97689C9818892B700e27F316cc3E41e17fBeb9",
    "to": "0xd3CdA913deB6f67967B99D67aCDFa1712C293601",
    "value": "0x186a0"
  }, "latest"],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": "0x5208",
  "id": 1
}

13. eth_getBlockByNumber

Purpose: Get block information by block number. Parameters:

block (string): Block number in hex, or “latest”, “earliest”, “pending”
fullTx (boolean): If true, returns full transaction objects; if false, only hashes

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_getBlockByNumber",
  "params": ["0x1234567", false],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": {
    "number": "0x1234567",
    "hash": "0x...",
    "parentHash": "0x...",
    "timestamp": "0x...",
    "transactions": ["0x...", "0x..."],
    "gasLimit": "0x...",
    "gasUsed": "0x...",
    "miner": "0x...",
    ...
  },
  "id": 1
}

14. eth_getBlockByHash

Purpose: Get block information by block hash. Parameters:

hash (string): 32-byte block hash
fullTx (boolean): If true, returns full transaction objects; if false, only hashes

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_getBlockByHash",
  "params": [
    "0x9b83c12c69edb74f6c8dd5d052765c1adf940e320bd1291696e6fa07829eee71",
    false
  ],
  "id": 1
}

15. eth_sendRawTransaction

Purpose: Submit a pre-signed transaction for broadcast. Parameters:

data (string): Signed transaction data in hex

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_sendRawTransaction",
  "params": ["0xf86c098504a817c800825208943535353535353535353535353535353535353535880de0b6b3a76400008025a028ef61340bd939bc2195fe537567866003e1a15d3c71ff63e1590620aa636276a067cbe9d8997f761aecb703304b3800ccf555c9f3dc64214b297fb1966a3b6d83"],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": "0xe670ec64341771606e55d6b4ca35a1a6b75ee3d5145a99d05921026d1527331",
  "id": 1
}

Note: Result is the transaction hash.

16. eth_call

Purpose: Execute a contract call immediately without creating a transaction. Parameters:

transaction (object): Transaction call object
- to (string): Contract address
- from (string, optional): Sender address
- data (string): Encoded function call
- gas (string, optional): Gas limit
- gasPrice (string, optional): Gas price
- value (string, optional): Value to send
block (string, optional): Block number or “latest”

Request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_call",
  "params": [{
    "to": "0x6B175474E89094C44Da98b954EedeAC495271d0F",
    "data": "0x70a082310000000000000000000000006E0d01A76C3Cf4288372a29124A26D4353EE51BE"
  }, "latest"],
  "id": 1
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "id": 1
}

Common Use Cases:

Reading contract state
Simulating transactions
Calling view/pure functions
Checking balances of ERC-20 tokens

🧪 Recipes

Read a no-argument view function on a verified contract

Use eth_call with data set to the first 4 bytes of keccak256("<functionSignature>"). For a function like rewardRate(), the selector is 0x7b0a47ee.

curl -X POST https://eth.blockscout.com/api/eth-rpc \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "eth_call",
    "params": [
      { "to": "0xCONTRACT_ADDRESS", "data": "0x7b0a47ee" },
      "latest"
    ],
    "id": 1
  }'

The result is the ABI-encoded return value, right-padded to 32 bytes. For a uint256 return, parse the full hex string as an integer. To find the function selector for any signature, hash it with keccak256 (any Web3 library exposes this, for example ethers.id("rewardRate()").slice(0, 10)). For functions with arguments, ABI-encode the parameters and append them to the selector (cast calldata "balanceOf(address)" 0x… from Foundry produces the full data payload).

Read the implementation address of an EIP-1967 proxy

EIP-1967 proxies keep the implementation address at storage slot 0x360894a13ba1a3210667c828492db98dca3e2076cc3735a920a3ca505d382bb3. Fetch it with eth_getStorageAt:

curl -X POST https://eth.blockscout.com/api/eth-rpc \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "eth_getStorageAt",
    "params": [
      "0xPROXY_ADDRESS",
      "0x360894a13ba1a3210667c828492db98dca3e2076cc3735a920a3ca505d382bb3",
      "latest"
    ],
    "id": 1
  }'

The result is 32 bytes; the implementation address is the last 20 bytes (strip the leading zero padding). If the proxy is already verified in Blockscout, the getsourcecode contract RPC action returns ImplementationAddress and IsProxy directly, so you can skip the storage read.

🔧 Usage Tips

Batch Requests

You can send multiple requests in a single HTTP call:

[
  {
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "eth_blockNumber",
    "params": [],
    "id": 1
  },
  {
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "eth_gasPrice",
    "params": [],
    "id": 2
  }
]

Error Handling

JSON-RPC errors follow this format:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "error": {
    "code": -32602,
    "message": "Invalid params"
  },
  "id": 1
}

Common error codes:

-32700 = Parse error
-32600 = Invalid request
-32601 = Method not found
-32602 = Invalid params
-32603 = Internal error

Blockscout APIs

PRO API Endpoints

Additional Service APIs

ETH RPC API

Blockscout ETH RPC Methods Reference

📋 Quick Reference

PRO API usage

Base URL Pattern (per instance)

🔢 Methods Overview

Read Operations (State Queries)

Transaction Operations

Block Operations

Call Operations

Log Operations

📚 Detailed Method Specifications

1. eth_blockNumber

2. eth_getBalance

3. eth_getLogs

4. eth_gasPrice

5. eth_getTransactionByHash

6. eth_getTransactionReceipt

7. eth_chainId

8. eth_maxPriorityFeePerGas

9. eth_getTransactionCount

10. eth_getCode

11. eth_getStorageAt

12. eth_estimateGas

13. eth_getBlockByNumber

14. eth_getBlockByHash

15. eth_sendRawTransaction

16. eth_call

🧪 Recipes

Read a no-argument view function on a verified contract

Read the implementation address of an EIP-1967 proxy

🔧 Usage Tips

Batch Requests

Error Handling

​Blockscout ETH RPC Methods Reference

​📋 Quick Reference

​PRO API usage

​Base URL Pattern (per instance)

​🔢 Methods Overview

​Read Operations (State Queries)

​Transaction Operations

​Block Operations

​Call Operations

​Log Operations

​📚 Detailed Method Specifications

​1. eth_blockNumber

​2. eth_getBalance

​3. eth_getLogs

​4. eth_gasPrice

​5. eth_getTransactionByHash

​6. eth_getTransactionReceipt

​7. eth_chainId

​8. eth_maxPriorityFeePerGas

​9. eth_getTransactionCount

​10. eth_getCode

​11. eth_getStorageAt

​12. eth_estimateGas

​13. eth_getBlockByNumber

​14. eth_getBlockByHash

​15. eth_sendRawTransaction

​16. eth_call

​🧪 Recipes

​Read a no-argument view function on a verified contract

​Read the implementation address of an EIP-1967 proxy

​🔧 Usage Tips

​Batch Requests

​Error Handling

Blockscout ETH RPC Methods Reference

📋 Quick Reference

PRO API usage

Base URL Pattern (per instance)

🔢 Methods Overview

Read Operations (State Queries)

Transaction Operations

Block Operations

Call Operations

Log Operations

📚 Detailed Method Specifications

1. eth_blockNumber

2. eth_getBalance

3. eth_getLogs

4. eth_gasPrice

5. eth_getTransactionByHash

6. eth_getTransactionReceipt

7. eth_chainId

8. eth_maxPriorityFeePerGas

9. eth_getTransactionCount

10. eth_getCode

11. eth_getStorageAt

12. eth_estimateGas

13. eth_getBlockByNumber

14. eth_getBlockByHash

15. eth_sendRawTransaction

16. eth_call

🧪 Recipes

Read a no-argument view function on a verified contract

Read the implementation address of an EIP-1967 proxy

🔧 Usage Tips

Batch Requests

Error Handling