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What is an Ethereum JSON RPC node?

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Introduction

Ethereum JSON-RPC is a remote procedure call (RPC) protocol encoded in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). It allows for communication between a client and an Ethereum node, enabling the client to send requests and receive responses in JSON format. It includes a set of methods that can be called by the client, such as eth_getBalance and eth_sendTransaction. These methods are used to perform various actions on the Ethereum blockchain, such as querying account balances and sending transactions. One of the main benefits of Ethereum JSON-RPC is its simplicity and ease of use.

The primary purpose of Ethereum JSON-RPC is to provide an interface for interacting with the Ethereum blockchain. This includes sending transactions, querying account balances, and obtaining information about smart contracts. The primary users of Ethereum JSON-RPC nodes are developers who want to interact with the Ethereum blockchain to build decentralized applications (dApps), smart contracts, and other blockchain-based projects.

dApp categories

Some of main categories of dApps are:

  1. Financial Applications: These include decentralized exchanges (DEXs), lending and borrowing platforms, and prediction markets. They use smart contracts to facilitate financial transactions and automate the process of lending and borrowing.
  2. Gaming and Gambling Applications: These include decentralized games, gambling platforms, and virtual worlds. They use smart contracts to automate the process of betting, and to ensure fair and transparent outcomes.
  3. Supply Chain and Logistics Applications: These include decentralized marketplaces, logistics tracking, and supply chain management. They use smart contracts to automate and track the process of buying and selling goods, and to ensure transparency and traceability in the supply chain.
  4. Identity and Authentication Applications: These include decentralized identity management systems and authentication platforms. They use smart contracts to provide secure and decentralized solutions for identity verification and authentication.
  5. Social and Communication Applications: These include decentralized social networks, messaging platforms, and blogging platforms. They use smart contracts to ensure data privacy and security, and to reward users for creating and sharing content.
  6. Governance and Community Applications: These include decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), voting platforms, and community management systems. They use smart contracts to automate the process of decision-making, and to ensure transparency and accountability in the governance of communities and organizations.

Is JSON-RPC the same for all EVM compatible blockchains?

An EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) compatible blockchain is a blockchain that uses the same virtual machine as Ethereum. The EVM is responsible for executing smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. By being EVM-compatible, a blockchain can run smart contracts written for Ethereum without modification.

An EVM-compatible blockchain can also utilize the existing ecosystem of tools, libraries, and services that have been built for Ethereum. This allows developers to easily build and deploy their decentralized applications (dApps) on the new blockchain.

As for the JSON-RPC, some EVM-compatible blockchains may choose to use a similar JSON-RPC interface as Ethereum to facilitate communication with client applications. However, this is not a requirement for being EVM-compatible, and some EVM-compatible blockchains may choose to implement their own custom JSON-RPC or use another protocol altogether.

For example, Binance Smart Chain (BSC) is an EVM-compatible blockchain, it runs on the same virtual machine as Ethereum and allows developers to build and deploy smart contracts on the Binance Smart Chain and use the existing ecosystem of tools and libraries that have been built for Ethereum. However, it uses its own custom JSON-RPC.

How to use JSON-RPC in dApps

In order to use Ethereum JSON-RPC, a client must connect to an Ethereum node that supports the JSON-RPC protocol. This can be done using a variety of programming languages and libraries. One of the most used language nowadays for Web3 developers is Javascript together with ethers.js library. In order to be able to connect to the Ethereum blockchain, we need to provide an rpc url to ethers JsonProvider object:

const provider =
  new ethers
      .providers
      .JsonRpcProvider(rpcUrl);

Where rpcUrl can be any suitable JSON RPC URL. For example, you can use our service to generate JSON RPC URL for free and use it for your Web3 project right away. Once connected, the client can send requests to the node using the appropriate Ethers API methods and receive responses in JSON format.

Summary

Ethereum JSON-RPC is a remote procedure call protocol that enables communication between a client and an Ethereum node, it allows for various actions to be performed on the Ethereum blockchain, such as querying account balances and sending transactions. Its main benefit is the ease of use and the wide range of dApp tools that can be built on top of it.