eth_getBalance - Tempo

Example code for the eth_getBalance JSON-RPC method. Complete guide on how to use eth_getBalance JSON-RPC in GetBlock Web3 documentation.

Always returns the large constant placeholder 0x9612084f0316e0ebd5182f398e5195a51b5ca47667d4c9b26c9b26c9b26c9b2 rather than an actual balance. Tempo has no native gas token, so a traditional native-balance query is meaningless. To query an account's actual holdings, call balanceOf(address) on the specific TIP-20 token contract (e.g. pathUSD, AlphaUSD, KlarnaUSD, USD1). The placeholder value is intentionally large so that wallets that fall back to displaying the native balance show something visibly unusual rather than silently displaying zero.

MODIFIED FROM STANDARD EVM. Tempo has no native gas token — its behavior differs from that of standard Ethereum nodes. See the description below for the Tempo-specific semantics.

Parameters

Parameter

Type

Required

Description

address

string

Yes

20-byte address to check for balance (ignored — always returns the placeholder)

blockParameter

string

Yes

Block number in hex, or block tag (ignored — always returns the placeholder)

Request Example

curl --location --request POST 'https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "eth_getBalance",
    "params": [
        "0xd85498dbeaeb1df24be52eed4f52eac2fbd56245",
        "latest"
    ],
    "id": "getblock.io"
}'

import axios from 'axios';

const data = JSON.stringify({
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "eth_getBalance",
    "params": [
        "0xd85498dbeaeb1df24be52eed4f52eac2fbd56245",
        "latest"
    ],
    "id": "getblock.io"
});

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

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

import requests
import json

url = "https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/"

payload = json.dumps({
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "eth_getBalance",
    "params": [
        "0xd85498dbeaeb1df24be52eed4f52eac2fbd56245",
        "latest"
    ],
    "id": "getblock.io"
})

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

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

use reqwest::Client;
use serde_json::json;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let client = Client::new();

    let payload = json!({
        "jsonrpc": "2.0",
        "method": "eth_getBalance",
        "params": [
                "0xd85498dbeaeb1df24be52eed4f52eac2fbd56245",
                "latest"
        ],
        "id": "getblock.io"
});

    let response = client
        .post("https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/")
        .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
        .json(&payload)
        .send()
        .await?;

    let result: serde_json::Value = response.json().await?;
    println!("{:#?}", result);

    Ok(())
}

Response Example

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": "getblock.io",
    "result": "0x9612084f0316e0ebd5182f398e5195a51b5ca47667d4c9b26c9b26c9b26c9b2"
}

Response Parameters

Field

Type

Description

result

string

Always the constant placeholder shown above — not a real balance. Query TIP-20 balanceOf for actual holdings

Use Cases

Compatibility shim for tooling that assumes the standard eth_getBalance exists
Detecting that you're talking to a Tempo node (the placeholder is distinctive)

Error Handling

Status Code

Error Message

Cause

403

Forbidden

Missing or invalid <ACCESS-TOKEN>

-32602

Invalid params

Request parameters are missing or malformed

429

Too Many Requests

Rate limit exceeded for your plan

(no method-specific errors)

N/A

This method is a constant lookup and effectively cannot fail when the node is reachable

SDK Integration

import { ethers } from 'ethers';

const provider = new ethers.JsonRpcProvider('https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/');

const result = await provider.send('eth_getBalance', ["0xd85498dbeaeb1df24be52eed4f52eac2fbd56245", "latest"]);
console.log(result);

import { createPublicClient, http, defineChain } from 'viem';

// Tempo is not yet in viem/chains as a built-in — define it inline.
const tempo = defineChain({
    id: 4217,
    name: 'Tempo',
    network: 'tempo',
    // Tempo has no native gas token. The `nativeCurrency` field is required by viem's
    // type system; values shown here are a no-op placeholder — actual fees are paid in TIP-20.
    nativeCurrency: { name: 'USD Placeholder', symbol: 'USD', decimals: 18 },
    rpcUrls: {
        default: { http: ['https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/'] }
    },
    blockExplorers: { default: { name: 'Tempo Explorer', url: 'https://explore.tempo.xyz' } }
});

const client = createPublicClient({
    chain: tempo,
    transport: http('https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/')
});

const result = await client.request({ method: 'eth_getBalance', params: ["0xd85498dbeaeb1df24be52eed4f52eac2fbd56245", "latest"] });
console.log(result);

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