Reference

JSON-RPC Reference

Canonical method list · Estimated read time: 10 minutes

Updated 2026-09-18: public RPC host in examples is explorer.asentum.com.

TL;DR

Asentum exposes a JSON-RPC 2.0 interface deliberately shaped like Ethereum's. Most eth_* read methods work unmodified with ethers.js, viem, web3.js, and MetaMask. Asentum-specific functionality, such as read-only contract calls, lives on plain HTTP endpoints like POST /view. For signing, you need a Dilithium3-aware client - see Ethereum Compatibility.

Endpoint

HTTP - https://explorer.asentum.com (POST JSON-RPC 2.0 bodies)
Chain ID - 1423 (testnet default - fetch live via eth_chainId)

CORS is open on the testnet for all origins. Rate limits are applied per IP on the hosted RPC; self-hosted nodes don't enforce them.

`eth_*` methods

The following Ethereum-compatible methods are supported:

Method	Purpose
eth_chainId	Returns the chain id.
eth_blockNumber	Latest block height.
eth_getBalance	Balance of an address at a given block.
eth_getTransactionCount	Nonce of an address.
eth_getCode	Deployed contract source at an address.
eth_getStorageAt	Reads a storage slot on a contract.
eth_getBlockByNumber	Block + transactions by height.
eth_getBlockByHash	Block + transactions by hash.
eth_getTransactionByHash	Transaction body by hash.
eth_getTransactionReceipt	Receipt (status, gas used, events).
eth_getLogs	Event log filter - indexed topics + block range.
eth_call	Read-only contract call (no tx, no gas).
eth_estimateGas	Estimate gas for a transaction.
eth_gasPrice	Current legacy gas price (equal to base fee).
eth_feeHistory	Base-fee + priority-fee history for EIP-1559.
eth_sendRawTransaction	Submit a signed transaction.
net_version	Chain id as a decimal string.
web3_clientVersion	Node software + version string.

eth_getCode returns the contract source, not bytecode - contracts on Asentum are plain JavaScript. See Smart Contracts for the why.

Address parameters take an ase1 address. Some response fields (the to of a transaction or receipt, and a receipt's contractAddress) are still returned in the node's internal encoding. Convert them to ase1 (bech32 of the same 20 bytes, prefix ase) before you show them to anyone.

Asentum HTTP endpoints

There are no asentum_* JSON-RPC methods; in particular asentum_viewCall does not exist. Asentum-specific reads are plain HTTP endpoints on the same host:

Endpoint	Purpose
POST /view	Read-only contract call (no gas, no tx). JSON body: {contract, method, args}. Returns {ok, returnValue, events, gasUsed} or {ok: false, reason}.
GET /validators	Current validator set with stake and status.

There are no governance JSON-RPC methods. Governance data is served as plain GET endpoints on the same host:/governance/proposals,/governance/proposal/<id>,/governance/locked/<address> and/governance/withdrawable/<address>. SeeProtocol Governance.

WebSocket subscriptions

Over WebSocket, eth_subscribe supports the standard topics:

newHeads - new block headers
logs - event logs matching a filter
newPendingTransactions - mempool entries

GRANDPA provides deterministic finality: once a block is finalized it never reorgs. Finality trails the head by a few blocks, so a freshly emitted newHeads block is confirmed once GRANDPA finalizes it.

Error codes

Asentum follows JSON-RPC 2.0 standard error codes plus a few protocol-specific ones:

-32700 Parse error
-32600 Invalid request
-32601 Method not found
-32602 Invalid params
-32000 Generic server error (insufficient balance, nonce mismatch, etc.)
-32010 Contract execution reverted (message contains the reason)

Examples

Get the latest block height:

curl -X POST https://explorer.asentum.com \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[]}'

Read a contract (view call) with POST /view. This is a plain HTTP request, not JSON-RPC:

curl -X POST https://explorer.asentum.com/view \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"contract":"ase1…contract","method":"totalSupply","args":[]}'

When an argument is an address, the SDK's viewCall(contract, method, args) converts ase1 addresses into the form the contract stores, so prefer it for calls like balanceOf.

For a typed, higher-level interface see the SDK API Reference.