Top 10 on-chain data APIs for developers

Introduction

As the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain continues to evolve, so does the need for data. If you’re a developer, it’s natural to want to take advantage of blockchain technology by creating new applications. One way is through application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow interaction with other software systems or hardware devices.

Fortunately, developers can use several on-chain data APIs to get the data they need. With so many different APIs available, it can be challenging to decide which ones are right for your needs. But don’t worry! We’ve put together this list of ten on-chain data APIs that should get your creative juices flowing.

What are on-chain APIs, and why do they matter?

An on-chain API is an application programming interface that enables access to data stored on a blockchain without any intermediary. They provide the ability to query a particular blockchain’s database to retrieve information about its state. This differs from traditional APIs (also known as off-chain APIs), which rely on external sources like web servers and databases for their data. Third-parties

An on-chain API is a set of rules that allows your application to interact with a blockchain network or cryptocurrency. This enables developers to create applications that can handle transactions, validate data, and other functions. The term “on-chain” refers to transactions on a blockchain. When something happens on the blockchain, it is written in stone — that is, there’s no way to change or delete it unless you have access to most of the network nodes.

On-chain data includes transaction data, smart contract data, and other metadata associated with blockchain activity.

Why are they important?

On-chain APIs are important because they allow developers to build applications that can interact with blockchain networks. This enables them to create DApps that process transactions, validate data, and perform other functions. The main benefit of an on-chain API is security — developers don’t need to worry about a third party stealing their user data or tampering with the information they receive from their app. This is especially useful in situations where there’s a need for transparency and immutability, such as when handling sensitive data.

Most people think of a blockchain as a system for recording transactions, but you can also use it to store data and perform other functions. For example, in the case of Ethereum — a popular platform that allows developers to create dApps — the blockchain is used as a database for storing information about accounts, addresses, and smart contracts. There are many reasons why businesses want to use on-chain APIs: They can validate data, improve security and allow you to create applications that interact with a blockchain network.

Many on-chain data APIs are available for developers, each with unique features and capabilities. Each on-chain data API has its strengths and weaknesses, so it’s essential to choose the right one for your needs.

Top 10 on-chain data APIs for developers

No matter which on-chain data API you choose, you’ll need to understand how blockchain technology works to use it effectively. If you’re new to blockchain, we recommend checking out our beginner’s guide before starting with an on-chain API.

1. Bitquery

Bitquery offers a set of software products that parse, index, and store blockchain data in a unified way.

Its two major product lines: APIs and data analytics tools. It covers over 40 blockchains and provide use cases across verticals such as digital assets exchanges, DeFi protocols, government organizations, and more.
Bitquery Coinpath is a set of API endpoints to trace money of any source and destination, create money flow graphs, and aggregate transfers to addresses.
Bitquery DEX GraphQL APIs offer real-time trading data from multiple DEX protocols across different blockchains. Developers csn use it to build charts, find arbitrage opportunities, analyze DEX markets and more.

Website: https://bitquery.io/

Explorer: https://explorer.bitquery.io/

2. CryptoQuant Data API

CryptoQuant API offers simple and powerful endpoints to get information on general transaction data and aggregate on-chain statistics straight from the blockchain.

CryptoQuant Data API offers a set of metrics that helps build an understanding of the entire blockchain ecosystem.
Tracks on-chain flow metrics for Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Stablecoins, and Altcoins. CryptoQuant Data provides the most comprehensive on-chain and market data from blockchain and major cryptocurrency exchanges.
Each API request requires authentication to identify the member. Authentication is provided through an access token.
Supports stablecoins like USDT, DAI, BUSD, UST, supports ALT like ADA, Algorand, Cosmos, supports 80+ ERC20 like Chainlink, Uniswap, Sushiswap and more
Pricing for CryptoQuant full platform features and up-to-date on-chain network and market data starts at $99 per month.

Website: https://cryptoquant.com/docs

3. Etherscan API

Etherscan is a comprehensive, open-source analytics tool for exploring the Ethereum blockchain. Etherscan.io is a block explorer for the Ethereum blockchain, which allows gives developers direct access to Etherscan’s block explorer data and services via GET/POST requests.

Ethereum Network Data has extensive coverage of Ethereum’s transaction history.
Developers can view transactions, send and receive digital currency, as well as access information about smart contracts.
Offers 2 types of API plans: a set of free community endpoints, and API PRO which consists of additional derived blockchain data.
Etherscan API features include accessing blockchain data, building dApps, and verifying contract.

Etherscan was created in 2015 to help users analyze their favorite cryptocurrency. The team behind this project includes some leading minds and industry professionals, including developers from Coinbase, Consensys, and Ventures, among others!

Website: https://docs.etherscan.io/

4. Chainalysis API

Chainalysis is a platform that provides tools for law enforcement and compliance professionals to investigate cryptocurrency transactions. Chainalysis offers a robust API that helps developers track and analyze blockchain data.

Chainalysis offers free sanctions compliance screening tools to companies in the crypto ecosystem, including Web3 groups such as DEXs, DeFi platforms, DAOs and DApp developers.
Chainalysis maintains the smart contract on a variety of popular blockchains to provide more coverage across networks and assets.
Chainalysis also provides intelligence and risk management tools for NFT issuer, collector or trader, a marketplace, or custody provider to help better position for long-term utility.
The Chainalysis Sanctions API is a RESTful API that returns information for all crypto addresses on the SDN list, whereas the Chainalysis Sanctions Screening oracle is an on-chain smart contract that checks only against sanctioned Ethereum/EVM addresses.
Additionally, Chainalysis API returns other information provided by OFAC about sanctioned addresses, including a property’s name, description, and URL.

Website: https://www.chainalysis.com/

5. Blockchair API

Blockchair is a search engine for the blockchain and an excellent way to get data on transactions, blocks, and addresses.

Blockchair API provides developers, researchers, and businesses access to data contained in 19 blockchains.
It aims to become the Google for blockchains, and its API supports numerous analytical queries like filtering, sorting, and aggregating blockchain data with high uptime.
The API has two endpoints: $api/v1/transactions return all transactions in any block. This endpoint can be used to fetch information about individual transactions or groups of them by ID number or hash160 value (which are both included in the response). For example:
python import requests r = requests . get (‘https://blockchairapi.com/api-project/bitcoin') print r . json ()

Website: https://blockchair.com/api

6. Moralis

Moralis’ Web3 API, NFT API, and Web3 authentication solution allow you to access on-chain data easily.

Moralis enable developers to query all sorts of on-chain information with single snippets of code.
Using Moralis’ tools and infrastructure, you can query all sorts of information from various networks simultaneously. This is possible because Moralis’ tools are cross-chain compatible, allowing you to develop dApps for multiple networks simultaneously.
The Moralis API enables developers to access the platform, and manage blockchain data, including NFT (non-fungible tokens) data. Methods are available to manage native block data, NFT data, accounts, tokens, transfers, events, addresses, owners, and more.

Website: https://moralis.io/

7. Blockcypher API

The Blockcypher API allows developers to access blockchain data, including the transactions, addresses, and blocks on the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash blockchains. Developers can also use it to access data from cryptocurrency exchanges.

BlockCypher offers robust documentation and support for a wide range of programming languages.
The Blockcypher API is a RESTful JSON interface that allows you to retrieve information about all kinds of things: coins, wallets, transactions, merchants, exchanges — you name it! This makes it easy for developers without experience with web APIs or databases who want access to blockchain data.

Website: https://www.blockcypher.com/apis.html

8. Btc.com API

Btc.com is a cryptocurrency exchange that provides real-time information about the Bitcoin market, including its price and volume. The API offers access to historical data and live updates for any exchange you monitor.

The BTC API allows developers to create applications that interact with the Bitcoin blockchain using the existing RESTful protocol (the same one used by Ethereum). The API consists of two main parts: a bitcoin JSON format called “bitcoin” which contains all available fields from your account; and an HTTP request/response model using GET and POST methods for interacting with these fields (as well as some other less commonly supported ones).

Website: https://explorer.btc.com/btc/adapter?type=api-doc

9. Covalent API

The Covalent Data Platform is a scalable, decentralized data layer that gives developers and enterprises the ability to query, analyze, and predict trends from data sourced from across the web3 ecosystem.

Covalent is powered by Tendermint and utilizes Cosmos SDK to provide a scalable, extensible platform for dApps and data integrations.

The Covalent Data Platform supports integration and analysis of data from multiple Web3 protocols including Ethereum, AION, IPFS and others.
Covalent allows for the creation of highly sophisticated data-driven dApps, as well as custom data integrations into existing applications.
Users can not only query data, but also utilize Covalent to do things like predict pricing trends and build market mechanisms.
The native token of the Covalent ecosystem is the $CQT, which is used to pay for data queries and to reward data providers.

Website: https://www.covalenthq.com/docs/api/

10. Graph API

The Graph API is named after the idea of a ‘social graph’ — a map of the relationships and interactions between people and web pages. A graph database is a logical representation of the social graph, and the Graph API is the way to access it.

The Graph API is made up of the objects or nodes in Facebook (e.g., people, pages, events, photos) and the connections or edges between them (e.g., friends, photo tags, and event RSVPs). These objects and edges can have fields (e.g., name, caption, photos, RSVP status) that contain scalar values (e.g., text, numbers, Booleans, and lists) and reference other objects by ID.
In a graph database, data is stored as nodes and edges (which we call ‘objects’ and ‘connections’ in the Graph API), and you access data by traversing the graph.
The Graph API has multiple versions that are released periodically. The current version is v3.0. You can read more about how we version our API and what we’re doing to make it easier to keep your apps current in our API Versioning guide.

Website: https://thegraph.com/explorer

Conclusion

With so many different APIs available and their demand increasing rapidly, developers need to prioritize which ones they should invest in as part of their development strategy. These top 10 APIs will help you start your journey to becoming a blockchain developer today!

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