Avalanche (AVAX)

Avalanche Network API Reference for efficient interaction with AVAX nodes, enabling fast, low-cost Layer 2 scaling solutions for Ethereum with high throughput and secure smart contracts.

Avalanche is a high-throughput, low-latency Proof-of-Stake blockchain platform launched in September 2020 by Ava Labs, founded by Emin Gün Sirer, Kevin Sekniqi, and Maofan "Ted" Yin. Its defining innovation is a novel family of consensus protocols:

1. Avalanche consensus (DAG-based) and

2. Snowman consensus (linear chains) achieves sub-second finality through repeated random subsampling rather than traditional PBFT or longest-chain rules.

Avalanche's most distinctive architectural feature is its three-chain Primary Network:

1. The Contract Chain (C-Chain) for EVM-compatible smart contracts

2. the Platform Chain (P-Chain) for validators, staking, and subnet metadata,

3. The Exchange Chain (X-Chain) for native asset transfers.

Each chain has its own virtual machine, its own RPC namespace, and its own URL path under the GetBlock base URL. The network also pioneered the concept of Subnets (now called L1S), application-specific blockchains with custom validators and tokenomics.

Key Features

• Three-Chain Primary Network: C-Chain (EVM, smart contracts), P-Chain (platform.* for staking and subnets), X-Chain (avm.* for native assets) — each with its own RPC path

• Sub-Second Finality: Repeated random subsampling delivers irreversibility in under 1 second, with no probabilistic confirmation windows

• EVM Compatibility on C-Chain: Full Ethereum JSON-RPC support; deploy Solidity / Vyper contracts with Hardhat, Foundry, ethers.js, viem, or web3.py without modification

• Avalanche eth_* Extensions on C-Chain: eth_baseFee, eth_getChainConfig, eth_suggestPriceOptions, eth_getBadBlocks, and the newAcceptedTransactions WebSocket subscription

• Atomic Cross-Chain Transfers: avax.export / avax.import enable atomic AVAX movement between C, P, and X chains

• Snowman Consensus: Used by C-Chain and P-Chain — linear, BFT-style finality optimized for smart contract execution

• Avalanche Consensus: Used by X-Chain — DAG-based, optimized for parallel asset transfers

• Subnets (L1s): Custom application-specific blockchains with their own validator sets, virtual machines, and token economics

• Native AVAX: Network's native token (18 decimals on C-Chain, 9 decimals as nAVAX on P-Chain / X-Chain — see warning below)

• Production-Grade Scalability: 4,500+ TPS theoretical throughput on the Primary Network, with subnets adding horizontal scale

TECHNICAL DISCLAIMER: AUTHORITATIVE AVALANCHE RPC SPECIFICATION

GetBlock’s Avalanche API reference documentation is provided exclusively for informational purposes and to optimize the developer experience. The canonical specification for Avalanche's RPC interfaces is maintained by Ava Labs and published at build.avax.network/docs/rpcs. The C-Chain follows the standard Ethereum JSON-RPC specification at ethereum.org/developers/docs/apis/json-rpc, plus Avalanche-specific extensions documented separately. For P-Chain and X-Chain protocols, consensus parameters, and subnet architecture, consult the official Avalanche documentation.

AVAX DECIMALS DIFFER BETWEEN CHAINS — IMPORTANT

AVAX is represented with different decimal precision depending on which chain you are interacting with:

• C-Chain: 18 decimals (1 AVAX = 10¹⁸ wei), matching Ethereum's convention. Use parseEther / formatEther.

• P-Chain and X-Chain: 9 decimals — denominated in nAVAX (nano-AVAX). 1 AVAX = 10⁹ nAVAX.

When transferring AVAX across chains via avax.export / avax.import or platform.exportAVAX / platform.importAVAX, the amount field uses the destination chain's decimal convention. A common integration bug is sending 18-decimal wei amounts to the P-Chain (which interprets them as nAVAX).

Network Information

Property	Value
Network Name	Avalanche Mainnet (Primary Network)
C-Chain ID	43114 (0xa86a)
Fuji Testnet C-Chain ID	43113 (0xa869)
Native Currency	AVAX
C-Chain Decimals	18 (wei)
P-Chain / X-Chain Decimals	9 (nAVAX)
Finality	Sub-second (Avalanche / Snowman consensus)
Smart Contract VM	EVM on C-Chain; AvalancheVM on X-Chain; Platform VM on P-Chain
EVM Compatible	Yes (C-Chain only)
Address Format	C-Chain: Ethereum-style 0x…; P-Chain / X-Chain: Bech32 P-avax1… / X-avax1…
Block Explorer	snowtrace.io (C-Chain), avascan.info (all chains)

Base URL

GetBlock exposes all three Avalanche chains under a single regional base URL. The chain is selected by the URL path:

Chain	Path suffix	Use for
C-Chain	/ext/bc/C/rpc	EVM smart contracts, eth_*, avax.* cross-chain ops
P-Chain	/ext/bc/P	platform.* — validators, staking, subnets
X-Chain	/ext/bc/X	avm.* — native asset transfers

Frankfurt, Germany

https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/ext/bc/C/rpc
https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/ext/bc/P
https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/ext/bc/X

All methods are called by sending a POST request to the corresponding chain URL with a JSON-RPC 2.0 body. For real-time subscriptions on the C-Chain, use the WebSocket scheme: wss://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/ext/bc/C/ws. WebSocket is only available on the C-Chain — P-Chain and X-Chain are HTTP only.

Supported Networks

Network	C-Chain JSON-RPC	C-Chain WSS	P-Chain	X-Chain	Frankfurt
Mainnet	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Fuji Testnet	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅

Quickstart

In this section, you will learn how to make your first call against the C-Chain (the most common starting point) with either:

• Axios (JavaScript / Node.js)

• Python (Requests library)

Before you begin, you must have already installed npm or yarn on your local machine (for the Axios example) or Python and pip (for the Python example).

JavaScript (Axios)

1

Setup project

mkdir avalanche-api-quickstart
cd avalanche-api-quickstart
npm init --yes

2

Install Axios

npm install axios

3

Create file

Create a new file named index.js. This is where you will make your first call.

4

Set ES module type

Set the ES module "type": "module" in your package.json.

5

Add code

index.js

import axios from 'axios';

const data = JSON.stringify({
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "eth_chainId",
    "params": [],
    "id": "getblock.io"
});

const config = {
    method: 'post',
    url: 'https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/ext/bc/C/rpc',
    headers: {
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    data: data
};

axios(config)
    .then(response => console.log(JSON.stringify(response.data, null, 2)))
    .catch(error => console.log(error));

Replace <ACCESS-TOKEN> with your actual GetBlock access token.

6

Run the script

node index.js

Expected output:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": "getblock.io",
    "result": "0xa86a"
}

0xa86a (43114 in decimal) confirms you are connected to Avalanche C-Chain mainnet.

Python (Requests)

1

Setup the project directory

mkdir avalanche-api-quickstart
cd avalanche-api-quickstart

2

Create and activate a virtual environment

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

# On Windows, use venv\Scripts\activate

3

Install requests

pip install requests

4

Create script

main.py

import requests
import json

url = "https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/ext/bc/C/rpc"

payload = json.dumps({
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "eth_chainId",
    "params": [],
    "id": "getblock.io"
})

headers = {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}

response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=payload)
print(response.text)

Replace <ACCESS-TOKEN> with your actual access token from GetBlock.

5

Run the script

python main.py

Available API Methods

Avalanche exposes three RPC surfaces. C-Chain is the most heavily used (EVM smart contracts). P-Chain and X-Chain are documented here with their core methods; for the complete platform.* and avm.* surface, see build.avax.network/docs/rpcs.

C-Chain: Ethereum-Compatible (eth_*)

Method	Description
eth_blockNumber	Returns the current latest block number
eth_chainId	Returns the chain ID (0xa86a = 43114 for C-Chain mainnet)
eth_getBlockByNumber	Returns block information by block number
eth_getBlockByHash	Returns block information by block hash
eth_getBlockReceipts	Returns all transaction receipts for a given block
eth_syncing	Returns sync status or false if node is fully synced
eth_getBalance	Returns the AVAX balance of an account (in wei)
eth_getCode	Returns the contract bytecode at a given address
eth_getStorageAt	Returns the value at a specific storage slot
eth_getTransactionCount	Returns the transaction count (nonce) for an account
eth_sendRawTransaction	Broadcasts a signed transaction
eth_getTransactionByHash	Returns a transaction by its hash
eth_getTransactionReceipt	Returns the receipt for a transaction by hash
eth_call	Executes a read-only call against contract state
eth_estimateGas	Estimates gas required for a transaction
eth_gasPrice	Returns the current gas price
eth_maxPriorityFeePerGas	Returns the suggested max priority fee per gas (EIP-1559)
eth_feeHistory	Returns historical base fees and priority fees
eth_getLogs	Returns logs matching a given filter

C-Chain: Avalanche eth_* Extensions

Method	Description
eth_baseFee	Returns the base fee for the next block (Avalanche-specific)
eth_getChainConfig	Returns the C-Chain configuration
eth_suggestPriceOptions	Returns suggested slow / normal / fast gas price options

C-Chain: WebSocket Subscriptions

Method	Description
eth_subscribe	Subscribes to events (newHeads, logs, newPendingTransactions, newAcceptedTransactions)
eth_unsubscribe	Cancels an existing subscription

C-Chain: Network & Client Info

Method	Description
net_version	Returns the network ID
net_listening	Returns true if the client is actively listening for connections
net_peerCount	Returns the number of peers connected to the node
web3_clientVersion	Returns the client software version
web3_sha3	Returns the Keccak-256 hash of the given data

P-Chain (platform.*)

Method	Description
platform.getHeight	Returns the current P-Chain block height
platform.getCurrentValidators	Returns the list of current validators for a given subnet
platform.getMinStake	Returns the minimum amount of AVAX required to stake
platform.getStakingAssetID	Returns the asset ID used for staking on a subnet
platform.getCurrentSupply	Returns the current AVAX supply on the P-Chain
platform.getTotalStake	Returns the total amount of AVAX staked on a subnet

X-Chain (avm.*)

Method	Description
avm.getAssetDescription	Returns description (name, symbol, decimals) for an asset
avm.getTx	Returns a transaction by ID
avm.getTxStatus	Returns the status of a transaction (Accepted, Processing, etc.)
avm.getUTXOs	Returns the UTXOs that reference a given address
avm.issueTx	Sends a signed transaction to the X-Chain

Support

For technical support and questions:

• Support Email: [e-mail]

See Also

• Official Avalanche Builder Docs

• Avalanche RPC Reference

• Ethereum JSON-RPC Specification

• AvalancheJS SDK (P-Chain / X-Chain)

• Snowtrace (C-Chain Explorer)

• Avascan (Multi-Chain Explorer)

• Avalanche on Chainlist

• Ethers.js Documentation

• Viem Documentation