BNB Smart Chain, a mainstream EVM-compatible smart contracts network, was in the spotlight in 2021. It cemented itself as a go-to platform for early-stage dApps deployment due to low fees and familiar development experience.
(N.B. Following a major rebranding of Binance's blockchain ecosystem, Binance Smart Chain is now officially referred to as BNB Smart Chain. However, for the sake of familiarity and recognition, both names will be used interchangeably throughout the article.)
What is BSC API?
APIs, short for Application Programming Interfaces, act as an intermediary between two applications that want to talk to each other. This tool allows for exchanging data programmatically behind the scene, with no need to code an extensive amount of instructions.
The BNB Smart Chain (BSC) API is an interface that allows developers and applications to interact with the BSC blockchain nodes. It provides various endpoints for querying blockchain data, submitting transactions, and retrieving information about the blockchain state.
Different nodes may operate with different API methods such as JSON-RPC, REST, and WebSockets among others.
How does BSC API work?
The process of calling APIs typically involves a server on one side and a client submitting requests using a predefined set of commands on the other. Following the same logic, APIs can be used to perform calls to nodes that interact straight with the blockchain.
BSC NFT APIs, for instance, are widely used by wallet and marketplace apps to query data related to non-fungible token metadata or transfer history.
Thus, BNB Smart Chain (formerly Binance Smart Chain) API authorizes applications to talk to the network of BSC nodes.
How to use BSC API?
To leverage the BNB Smart Chain API, developers need an API key or access token for authenticating requests to the BSC node API. These credentials are easy to obtain through a trusted third-party provider.
Once the necessary authentication details are acquired, users can formulate requests via various libraries and frameworks, specifying the desired method and relevant parameters.
To illustrate how API works with BSC, let’s query the node provided by GetBlock and fetch the details of the transaction using the JSON-RPC method ‘eth_getTransactionByHash’.
Below is an example of a request using the curl command.
curl --location --request POST 'https://go.getblock.io/' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --data-raw '{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "eth_getTransactionByHash", "params": [ "0xd8611b1d6df0d4c7c5bc15512466d79dfb01c277e758c55d22b0f17fac4dd76b" ], "id": "getblock.io" }' | jq
This is the response we get:
For more examples and a list of available methods, feel free to consult the BSC API docs in the respective section of the GetBlock website.
Binance Smart Chain APIs: PancakeSwap leads the way
When it comes to main on-chain and utilization metrics, PancakeSwap, a BSC-based clone of leading Ethereum-based DeFi protocol Uniswap, remains undisputed leader of BSC dApps ecosystem.
Image by Dappradar
The protocol siphoned the liquidity from Uniswap promoting itself as its low-fee and resource-efficient alternative. At its core, it is an instrument for the seamless peer-to-peer exchange of BSC-based assets and ‘yield farming’, i.e. the process of rewards earning for providing liquidity to the platform.
Everyone can add his/her asset to PancakeSwap and launch a liquidity pool for it in BNB or WBNB pairs. As such, it is an exchange of choice for the teams with low budgets.
Users choose PancakeSwap over its competitors since it offers more profitable ‘yield farming’ programs and doesn’t suffer from exorbitant Ethereum’s fees.
BNB Smart Chain APIs: GameFi revolution
However, as displayed above, 4 out of 5 top decentralized applications on BSC (by the number of active wallets) interacted with the smart contracts of this or that dApp at least once in the last 30 days.
Powered by native BSC-based asset BCOIN, Bomb Crypto game closely resembles Nintendo’s games of the 90s. Players manage a group of bomb heroes who fight monsters and earn BCOIN for their activity.
The second Live Play-to-Earn environment is way more sophisticated: it demonstrates an immersive metaverse inspired by 2010s online game Second Life. Its gameplay boasts exhibitions, dance floors, shopping malls, workplaces, and so on.
MOBOX NFT Farmer works at the intersection between GameFi and the NFT segment. Even with zero expertise in blockchain, cryptocurrency, and software development, crypto enthusiasts can mint characters as NFTs and integrate them into economic strategy.
X World Games brings marvelous anime aesthetics into the red-hot segment of gaming NFTs. Its native token XWG is a backbone element of its tokenomics.
Binance Smart Chain APIs: Most dangerous competitors
However, BNB Smart Chain meets 2022 de-throned: it is no longer #1 competitor of Ethereum.
Arbitrum blockchain with its native token ARB surpassed BNB Chain by the dApps volume and is nearing the BSC’s total volume of crypto assets locked in DeFi applications.
Image by Defi Llama
Surprisingly, Arbitrum managed to accomplish this milestone with only 427 active protocols. Besides Arbitrum, the network has two rapidly growing competitive blockchains, Avalanche (AVAX) and Solana (SOL).
However, by the number of active protocols, Binance Smart Chain (BSC) remains superior to Ethereum with over 5,000 working dApps.
Binance Smart Chain developer APIs: Book your flight to the moon with GetBlock
GetBlock, a top-notch blockchain node provider, is a world-leading vendor of BNB Smart Chain (BSC) RPC APIs. GetBlock offers shared and dedicated nodes: applications can be deployed in a matter of hours.
Aside from nodes running the mainnet version of 55+ blockchains, GetBlock exposes BSC testnet API, widely used by developers to test-launch applications under realistic conditions. Additionally, BSC explorer API by GetBlock opens easy access to tons of data displayed via BNB Smart Chain, Ethereum, and Near Protocol explorers.
Our users can experiment with light, full, and archive nodes via BSC Web3 API. By 2024, we proudly integrated them into a number of dApps; your DeFi or Play-to-Earn might be the next to join the club!
