RPC method

eth_getBlockByNumber on Plasma

Supported on SwiftNodes

Everything below was measured on 2026-10-13 by calling eth_getBlockByNumber on Plasma through the same endpoint customers use, and is re-measured weekly.

What eth_getBlockByNumber does

Returns a block by number or tag (latest, safe, finalized, pending, earliest): the header, and either the transaction hashes or the full transactions. Indexers, explorers and wallets use it to follow the chain.

eth_getBlockByNumber on Plasma: what we measured

Header fields	26
Transactions per block	7, 7, 5, 10, 12 in five consecutive blocks
Response size, full transactions (true)	29.5 KB average
Response size, hashes only (false)	2.2 KB
Gas limit	36,000,000
Gas used in the latest block	2,440,598 (6.8% of the limit)
Base fee	8 wei
Tag "safe"	block 34,954,093
Tag "finalized"	block 34,954,095
Tag "pending"	block 34,954,099
Tag "earliest"	block 0

What is different on Plasma

The header includes the fields added by London (EIP-1559 base fee), Shanghai (withdrawals), Cancun (EIP-4844 blob gas), Cancun (EIP-4788 beacon root), Prague (EIP-7685 requests). Code that assumes Ethereum's current header shape will parse it as is.

Asking for full transactions (second parameter true) made the response 13.4 times larger than hashes only. If you need only some transactions, fetch hashes and request those transactions or their receipts individually.

A real Plasma block header

From block 34,954,090, as our endpoint returned it (long hex values shortened).

{
  "hash": "0x42f15722ebaecdf3140912c387cbd8b3213f174043963c4930bb57715ae97064",
  "parentHash": "0x57657b008435dfe84a4e17fea68d1fd35b02e0e2908ddb633e950a3ea53522bd",
  "sha3Uncles": "0x1dcc4de8dec75d7aab85b567b6ccd41ad312451b948a7413f0a142fd40d49347",
  "miner": "0x000000000000000000000000000000000a11b005",
  "stateRoot": "0x0b646c2f3def530aeafe652ad49fcd2e9e41cc75e346718137cdac0a6c72f089",
  "transactionsRoot": "0xcfe88aa974cf3b47433fc27d18e37f0340a636edbc013455bbfcf20ec26b3867",
  "receiptsRoot": "0xcd44a69df56a348c085e52ef8e8859acf7a0f21b37e6c909c92d7682f5a62f3b",
  "logsBloom": "0x0000000040000002…(256 bytes)",
  "difficulty": "0x0",
  "number": "0x2155b6a",
  "gasLimit": "0x2255100",
  "gasUsed": "0x253d96",
  "timestamp": "0x6ace278b",
  "extraData": "0x726574682f76312e31312e332f6c696e7578",
  "mixHash": "0x40660b6e09b5ec58cb61977f3950466fab1d70c2e7665e4674b249bb6fe25361",
  "nonce": "0x0000000000000000",
  "baseFeePerGas": "0x8",
  "withdrawalsRoot": "0x56e81f171bcc55a6ff8345e692c0f86e5b48e01b996cadc001622fb5e363b421",
  "blobGasUsed": "0x0",
  "excessBlobGas": "0x0",
  "parentBeaconBlockRoot": "0xba50beb0227297608a0b673028ffa0a442146a8c8ce605696fca8d8a181c0420",
  "requestsHash": "0xe3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855",
  "size": "0x3094",
  "uncles": [],
  "transactions": "7 transactions",
  "withdrawals": []
}

Example request

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

import { createPublicClient, http } from "viem";

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

// Header plus transaction hashes (2.2 KB)
const block = await client.getBlock({ blockTag: "latest" });

// With full transactions (29.5 KB on average on Plasma)
const full = await client.getBlock({ blockNumber: block.number, includeTransactions: true });

// A block that will not be reorganised
const final = await client.getBlock({ blockTag: "finalized" });

Other methods on Plasma

eth_getBlockByNumber on other chains

Frequently asked questions

Does Plasma support eth_getBlockByNumber?

Yes. eth_getBlockByNumber answered on the SwiftNodes Plasma endpoint when our weekly probe called it through the customer path (2026-10-13).

How many transactions are in each Plasma block?

In five consecutive blocks on 2026-10-13: 7, 7, 5, 10, 12.

Plasma endpoints, live block height and WebSocket status are on the Plasma RPC page.

One key covers every chain we serve, and SwiftNodes has a free tier.