eth_getBalance on Arbitrum Nova
Everything below was measured on 2026-10-13 by calling eth_getBalance on Arbitrum Nova through the same endpoint customers use, and is re-measured weekly.
What eth_getBalance does
Returns an account's balance of the chain's native token in wei (the smallest unit, 10^-18), at a given block. It works for contracts as well as wallets; ERC-20 balances need eth_call to the token's balanceOf instead.
eth_getBalance on Arbitrum Nova: what we measured
The zero address held 12.51 ETH on Arbitrum Nova when we measured. On most chains a zero-address balance is funds sent there by mistake or burned; either way it differs from chain to chain, so reading it is a quick sanity test that your client is talking to Arbitrum Nova and not another network.
You can pin a read to an exact block with {"blockHash": "0x..."} (EIP-1898). Unlike a block number, a hash fails loudly if that block was reorganised away.
Balances at blocks older than about 64 blocks need historical state. Archive routing did not measure as available for this chain.
| Unit | wei of ETH (1 ETH = 10^18 wei) |
|---|---|
| Balance of 0x0000…0000 (zero address) | 12.51 ETH |
| Balance of 0x…dEaD (burn address) | 0.001609 ETH |
| Block given by hash (EIP-1898) | accepted |
| History on default routing | about the last 64 blocks |
| Older blocks (archive=1) | not measured as available |
Example request
curl -s https://rpc.swiftnodes.io/rpc/arbitrum-nova?key=YOUR_API_KEY \
-X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"eth_getBalance","params":["0x000000000000000000000000000000000000dEaD","latest"]}'import { createPublicClient, formatEther, http } from "viem";
const client = createPublicClient({
transport: http("https://rpc.swiftnodes.io/rpc/arbitrum-nova?key=YOUR_API_KEY"),
});
const wei = await client.getBalance({ address: "0x000000000000000000000000000000000000dEaD" });
console.log(formatEther(wei), "ETH");
// At a past block
const then = await client.getBalance({ address: "0x000000000000000000000000000000000000dEaD", blockNumber: 85283524n });
// Many balances in one request: Multicall3 is deployed on Arbitrum Nova
const balances = await client.multicall({
contracts: addresses.map((a) => ({ address: "0xcA11bde05977b3631167028862bE2a173976CA11", abi: [{ name: "getEthBalance", type: "function", stateMutability: "view", inputs: [{ type: "address" }], outputs: [{ type: "uint256" }] }], functionName: "getEthBalance", args: [a] })),
});Other methods on Arbitrum Nova
- eth_blockNumberSupported
- eth_chainIdSupported
- eth_getBlockByNumberSupported
- eth_getTransactionByHashSupported
- eth_getTransactionReceiptSupported
- eth_callSupported
- eth_estimateGasSupported
- eth_gasPriceSupported
- eth_maxPriorityFeePerGasSupported
- eth_sendRawTransactionSupported
- eth_getTransactionCountSupported
- eth_getCodeSupported
- eth_subscribeSupported
- eth_getLogsSupported
- eth_getBlockReceiptsSupported
- eth_feeHistorySupported
- eth_getProofSupported
- eth_createAccessListSupported
- debug_traceCallSupported
- trace_blockNot available
- trace_transactionNot available
eth_getBalance on other chains
- Ethereum
- Base
- Arbitrum
- Optimism
- Polygon
- BNB Smart Chain
- Avalanche
- Sonic
- Linea
- Scroll
- zkSync Era
- Blast
- Mantle
- Gnosis
- Celo
- Berachain
- Monad
- Unichain
- Kaia
- PulseChain
- World Chain
- Ronin
- Abstract
- ApeChain
- MegaETH
- Fantom
- Lisk
- Hemi
- X Layer
- BOB
- Plasma
- Fraxtal
- Zora
- Story
- Soneium
- Sei
- Hyperliquid
- Taiko
- Morph
- Ink
- Katana
- Ethereum Classic
- opBNB
- Mode
- Flare
- Core
- Chiliz
- Telos EVM
- Tempo
- Cronos
- Manta Pacific
- Shibarium
- Boba Network
- Immutable zkEVM
Frequently asked questions
Does Arbitrum Nova support eth_getBalance?
Yes. eth_getBalance answered on the SwiftNodes Arbitrum Nova endpoint when our weekly probe called it through the customer path (2026-10-13).
What unit does eth_getBalance return on Arbitrum Nova?
Wei of ETH, as a hex string: divide by 10^18 for ETH. viem's formatEther does this.
Can I get historical balances on Arbitrum Nova?
Default routing keeps about 64 blocks of state. Older balances did not measure as available.
Arbitrum Nova endpoints, live block height and WebSocket status are on the Arbitrum Nova RPC page.
One key covers every chain we serve, and SwiftNodes has a free tier.