Ethereum RPC Endpoint

Fast, flat-rate Ethereum RPC node provider — free tier, no KYC, HTTP & WebSocket.

Ethereum is the original general-purpose smart contract blockchain and the foundation of decentralized finance, NFTs, and on-chain governance. SwiftNodes provides reliable, low-latency Ethereum mainnet RPC with both HTTP and WebSocket support across load-balanced upstream nodes.

About Ethereum

Ethereum launched in July 2015 and transitioned from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake in September 2022 ("The Merge"). Block times settled at roughly 12 seconds after the move, and economic finality is reached after two epochs — about 12 minutes. With the Dencun upgrade, blob storage (EIP-4844) made data-availability for rollups dramatically cheaper, accelerating the L2 ecosystem.

As of today, Ethereum hosts the majority of DeFi total-value-locked, the largest validator set of any proof-of-stake chain, and most major stablecoin issuers. Developers use Solidity or Vyper for contracts; mainstream tooling includes Foundry, Hardhat, viem, ethers.js, and web3.py.

Common Use Cases on Ethereum

• DeFi protocols (Uniswap, Aave, Curve, Maker)
• Stablecoin issuance and settlement (USDC, USDT, DAI)
• NFT minting and marketplaces
• DAO governance and on-chain treasuries
• Layer-2 rollups settle proofs and data here

Ethereum Ecosystem

Ethereum is home to the largest blockchain dev ecosystem: Uniswap, Aave, Maker (Sky), Lido, EigenLayer, Curve, Compound, ENS, OpenSea, and the major centralized stablecoins. Every notable Ethereum L2 — Optimism, Arbitrum, Base, zkSync, Scroll, Linea — settles to Ethereum mainnet.

HTTP Endpoint

WebSocket Endpoint

Quick Start: Connect to Ethereum

cURL

curl -X POST https://rpc.swiftnodes.io/rpc/eth?key=YOUR_API_KEY \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[],"id":1}'

ethers.js

import { JsonRpcProvider } from "ethers";

const provider = new JsonRpcProvider(
  "https://rpc.swiftnodes.io/rpc/eth?key=YOUR_API_KEY"
);

const blockNumber = await provider.getBlockNumber();
console.log("Ethereum block:", blockNumber);

viem

import { createPublicClient, http } from "viem";

const client = createPublicClient({
  transport: http("https://rpc.swiftnodes.io/rpc/eth?key=YOUR_API_KEY"),
});

const blockNumber = await client.getBlockNumber();

web3.py

from web3 import Web3

w3 = Web3(Web3.HTTPProvider("https://rpc.swiftnodes.io/rpc/eth?key=YOUR_API_KEY"))
print("Ethereum block:", w3.eth.block_number)

Add Ethereum to MetaMask

Bridging to Ethereum

Most Ethereum L2s use canonical bridges (1-2 hour deposits, 7-day withdrawals for optimistic rollups). Third-party fast bridges like Across, Stargate, and Hop offer near-instant transfers.

Features of SwiftNodes for Ethereum

• Multiple load-balanced upstream nodes for high availability
• Health-checked every 60 seconds with automatic failover
• Free tier available — no credit card or KYC required
• Flat-rate monthly pricing with no per-request fees
• HTTP and WebSocket support
• One API key works across all 75+ supported chains, including Ethereum

Rate Limits

Frequently Asked Questions: Ethereum

Ethereum guides from the blog

• Ethereum Light Clients: Verified Data Without Running a NodeA light client verifies Ethereum's headers against the validator set on your laptop — turning any untrusted RPC endpoint into a verified one. How sync committees work, what Helios-style clients actually do, and their honest limits.
• eth_getProof: Verify Blockchain State Without Trusting Your RPC NodeEvery eth_call answer is just something a server told you. eth_getProof returns state with a Merkle proof you can check yourself — the primitive behind bridges, light clients, and trust-minimized reads.
• What Is EIP-7702? EOAs That Act Like Smart AccountsSince Pectra, a plain wallet address can carry code. What EIP-7702 delegation actually does, how to spot it over RPC, and why 'no code means EOA' is no longer a safe assumption.
• Sending a Raw Transaction: Why eth_sendTransaction Doesn't Work on a ProviderThe write path trips up more developers than the read path. Here's why you sign transactions locally and broadcast them with eth_sendRawTransaction — with the full build-sign-send flow.
• How Do Blockchain Bridges Work? Lock-Mint, Burn-Mint, and Who You're TrustingEvery time you move funds to an L2 you use a bridge — but 'bridge' hides several very different mechanisms with very different risk. A plain explainer of how they actually work.
• eth_call State Overrides: Simulate Against State That Doesn't Existeth_call's third parameter lets you override balances, code, and storage before simulating. Here's how state overrides work, with a reproducible example and real use cases.

Related EVM chains

Explore RPC endpoints for other EVM networks on SwiftNodes: