venice-crypto-rpc

name	venice-crypto-rpc
description	Use Venice as a pay-per-call JSON-RPC proxy to 20+ EVM and Starknet networks. Covers GET /crypto/rpc/networks, POST /crypto/rpc/{network}, the 1×/2×/4× method-tier pricing model, per-minute + 24-hour credit rate limits, idempotency keys for safe retries, single vs batch requests, and the unsupported stateful/WebSocket methods (eth_subscribe, eth_newFilter, etc.).

Venice Crypto RPC (JSON-RPC proxy)

Venice exposes a multi-chain JSON-RPC proxy billed per call. Same request shape as Alchemy / Infura — just change the base URL and pay per credit.

Endpoint	Auth	Notes
GET /crypto/rpc/networks	Bearer or SIWE	Returns { "networks": [...] } (sorted).
POST /crypto/rpc/{network}	Bearer or SIWE (x402)	Forward a JSON-RPC 2.0 request (single or batch).

Supported networks

Call GET /crypto/rpc/networks for the current list. It currently returns 23 slugs (always verify — the catalog grows):

arbitrum-mainnet    arbitrum-sepolia
avalanche-mainnet   avalanche-fuji
base-mainnet        base-sepolia
blast-mainnet       blast-sepolia
bsc-mainnet         bsc-testnet
ethereum-mainnet    ethereum-sepolia    ethereum-holesky
linea-mainnet       linea-sepolia
optimism-mainnet    optimism-sepolia
polygon-mainnet     polygon-amoy
starknet-mainnet    starknet-sepolia
zksync-mainnet      zksync-sepolia

Use the slug as :network in the proxy path.

Send a JSON-RPC request

Single call

curl -X POST https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/crypto/rpc/ethereum-mainnet \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VENICE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_chainId","params":[],"id":1}'

{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "result": "0x1" }

Batch (up to 100 calls)

curl -X POST https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/crypto/rpc/base-mainnet \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VENICE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[
    {"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_chainId","params":[],"id":1},
    {"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[],"id":2}
  ]'

A single unsupported method in a batch ⇒ the entire batch fails with 400.

Drop-in with viem / ethers

import { createPublicClient, http } from 'viem'
import { mainnet } from 'viem/chains'

const client = createPublicClient({
  chain: mainnet,
  transport: http('https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/crypto/rpc/ethereum-mainnet', {
    fetchOptions: { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.VENICE_API_KEY}` } },
  }),
})

Pricing

Credits per call = baseCredits[chain] × methodTier.

Base credits	Chains
20	Ethereum, Base, Optimism, Arbitrum, Polygon, Linea, Avalanche, BSC, Blast, Starknet.
30	zkSync Era.

Tier	Multiplier	Methods
Standard	1×	eth_call, eth_getBalance, eth_blockNumber, eth_sendRawTransaction, eth_getLogs, net_version, web3_clientVersion, ERC-4337 bundler (eth_sendUserOperation, …), chain-family extensions (zks_*, linea_*, bor_*, starknet_*).
Advanced	2×	trace_*, debug_*, txpool_inspect, txpool_status, arbtrace_*.
Large	4×	trace_replayBlockTransactions, trace_replayTransaction, txpool_content, arbtrace_replay*.

At ~$7e-7 per credit:

• Standard EVM call (20 × 1) ≈ $0.000014
• Advanced trace on Ethereum (20 × 2) ≈ $0.000028
• Large trace replay (20 × 4) ≈ $0.000056
• zkSync standard call (30 × 1) ≈ $0.000021

RPC-level errors (HTTP 200 with error object inside — e.g. method unsupported on that chain, bad params) are billed at a flat 5 credits regardless of tier.

Response headers on 200:

Header	Meaning
X-Venice-RPC-Credits	Total credits charged (sum over batch).
X-Venice-RPC-Cost-USD	Dollar cost to 8 decimal places.
X-Balance-Remaining	Remaining x402 USD — set on routes whose middleware refreshes balance headers. The /crypto/rpc/* handler currently emits credits/cost/request headers; treat X-Balance-Remaining here as best-effort (may be absent on RPC). Use GET /x402/balance/{walletAddress} for an authoritative read.
X-Request-ID	32-char correlation ID — include in support tickets.
Idempotent-Replayed	"true" when served from the idempotency cache.

Unsupported methods

These always return 400:

• Stateful filter methods — eth_newFilter, eth_newBlockFilter, eth_getFilterChanges, eth_getFilterLogs, eth_uninstallFilter. Filter state is pinned to a single backend and a load-balanced HTTP proxy can't maintain it. Use eth_getLogs instead.
• WebSocket-only methods — eth_subscribe, eth_unsubscribe. This proxy is HTTP only. Run your own WS endpoint for subscriptions.
• Cross-family methods — calling starknet_* on an EVM chain (or vice versa) ⇒ 400.
• Unmapped methods — anything not in the Standard/Advanced/Large lists.

Idempotency

Set the Idempotency-Key header to any [A-Za-z0-9_-]{1,255} string for safe retries:

curl -X POST https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/crypto/rpc/ethereum-mainnet \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VENICE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: send-tx-2026-04-21-nonce-42" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_sendRawTransaction","params":["0x..."] ,"id":1}'

• Cached for 24 hours keyed on (user, idempotency-key).
• Replay returns the cached response with Idempotent-Replayed: true and is not billed again.
• Same key + different body ⇒ 400 (prevents silent corruption).

Use this for any state-mutating method (eth_sendRawTransaction, eth_sendUserOperation) to survive flaky networks without double-broadcasting.

Rate limits

Two caps per caller, both enforced independently:

Tier	Per-minute requests	Credits / rolling 24h
Paid	100	10,000,000
Staff	1,000	100,000,000

429 response customMessage identifies which cap tripped. Per-minute cap also sets X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Reset headers.

Concurrent-call collisions on the per-user mutex also return 429. Retry with jitter.

Errors

Status	Typical cause
400	Unsupported network slug, empty body, batch > 100, unsupported/WebSocket/filter method, cross-family call, idempotency-key reuse with a different body.
401	Missing or invalid Bearer / SIWE. The /networks listing is public but the proxy endpoint requires auth.
402	Insufficient balance. x402 wallet users get a PAYMENT-REQUIRED header with structured top-up instructions (see venice-x402).
429	Per-minute, 24-hour credit, or concurrency cap tripped.
500	Upstream fetch failed / timeout. Safe to retry with the same Idempotency-Key.

Patterns

• Multi-chain dashboards — Single API key unlocks all networks. No per-chain keys to rotate.
• High-throughput indexing — Batch up to 100 calls per request; each sub-call is still billed individually, but the network round-trip is amortized.
• Wallet-based (x402) RPC — Pay per RPC call with USDC on Base. Use the SIWE header; a 402 indicates low credit and carries structured top-up instructions.
• Cost tracking — Log X-Venice-RPC-Credits and X-Venice-RPC-Cost-USD per request; aggregate by method to see where credits go.
• Safe transaction submission — Always include an Idempotency-Key on eth_sendRawTransaction. The proxy then guarantees exactly-once semantics within 24 hours.