How to Connect to Bitcoin

In this guide, you'll learn the following connection methods to the Bitcoin infrastructure:

• How to Connect to Bitcoin RPC via cURL
• How to Connect to Bitcoin via WebSocket
• How to Connect to Bitcoin RPC via Python

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Note:

Visit the Bitcoin marketplace page to explore Blockdaemon’s Bitcoin infrastructure.

How to Access Your Blockdaemon Bitcoin Credentials

Once you have purchased your Blockdaemon Bitcoin infrastructure, you can access your credentials:

1. Log into the Blockdaemon app.
2. Click Nodes under the Access menu.
3. Select the Bitcoin node.
4. Select the Connect tab. You'll find the following information:
   1. Endpoint URL
   2. Auth String
   3. Auth Token

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Info:

Please reach out to [email protected] or your Customer Success Manager for support.

How to Connect to Bitcoin RPC via cURL

curl --location --request POST 'YOUR_ENDPOINT_URL' \
  --header 'X-Auth-Token: YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "method": "RPC_METHOD",
    "params": [],
    "id": 1,
    "jsonrpc": "2.0"
  }'

• Replace YOUR_ENDPOINT_URL with the Endpoint URL in the Blockdaemon app.
• Replace YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN with the Auth Token in the Blockdaemon app.
• Replace RPC_METHOD with your chosen RPC method.

How to Connect to Bitcoin via WebSocket

wscat -H "X-Auth-Token: YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN" -c wss://YOUR_ENDPOINT_URL:8443/websocket

• Replace YOUR_ENDPOINT_URL with the Endpoint URL in the Blockdaemon app.
• Replace YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN with the Auth Token in the Blockdaemon app.

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Info:

wscat is a tool that can connect over WebSocket(s) and may need to be installed. You can use your preferred tool of choice.

How to Connect to Bitcoin RPC via Python

The following describes how to run a simple Python application that prints the current best block.

➡️ 1. Install Python libraries

Install the Python library python-bitcoinrpc. We will use this library to communicate with the RPC interface.

pip3 install python-bitcoinrpc

➡️ 2. Copy script

Copy the following Python program into a file called bitcoin_rpc.py

import pprint from bitcoinrpc.authproxy import AuthServiceProxy, JSONRPCException

rpc_user = "blockdaemon" 
rpc_password = "blockdaemon" 
rpc_connection = AuthServiceProxy("<your node endpoint>" .format(rpc_user, rpc_password)) 
best_block_hash = rpc_connection.getbestblockhash() 
best_block = rpc_connection.getblock(best_block_hash) 
pprint.pprint(best_block)

➡️ 3. Start the Python script

python3 bitcoin_rpc.py

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Note:

Bitcoin does not require an extra auth header. You can:

• use extra auth user in header (existing curl example).
• use basic auth.
• use X-Auth-Token in header without auth user.
• use bearer token in header without auth user.
• pass auth as url param.

Useful Links

• Bitcoin RPC Protocol
• Python-bitcoinrpc Documentation

👋 Need Help?

Contact us through email or our support page for any issues, bugs, or assistance you may need.