The BitcoinDatabase blog
On-chain data, explained
Practical writing on querying the Bitcoin blockchain: how to pull balances, UTXOs and transaction history by REST API and SQL, work with on-chain metrics and mempool data, trace fund flows and entity labels, and use AML risk signals as compliance tooling. Informational on-chain data only.
Best Bitcoin Exchange Reserve Data API for Trading Desks and Risk Teams
We re-measured five widely reported exchange cold addresses eight days apart. They gained 18,143.06 BTC, an apparent 2.70 percent inflow, and four of the five never moved. The whole increase was three sweeps out of one hot wallet that is not on the reserve list, each returning change to the source at an identical 5.03 sat/vB. What to check before you buy reserve data, with vendor API access and pricing verified first-hand.
Best Bitcoin Address API for Wallet and Exchange Engineering Teams
Tested first-hand: no major Bitcoin address API returns the script type, and three of them disagree on the genesis address balance by over 50 BTC. What wallet and exchange backends should check before they buy, plus the address type distribution of block 963,670 measured four ways.
Best Bitcoin On-Chain Data API for Quant Research Teams
For research work the deciding factor is reproducibility, not metric count. Checked first-hand on 21 August 2026: Glassnode's 49 dollar Advanced plan does not include API access and its Professional tier has no published price, while coinmetrics.io now 301-redirects to Talos with pricing behind a demo request. Plus why a fixed adjustment factor for on-chain volume breaks: two blocks six days apart needed corrections of 17.03x and 4.87x.
Bitcoin Active Addresses: What the Metric Actually Counts
Active addresses does not count people, and it overstates them. We fetched all 4,329 transactions in block 963,218 on 19 August 2026 and counted them five ways: 12,388 naive unique addresses, but 11,760 of those appear exactly once, and merging addresses that co-spend gives 9,789 actors. One wallet consolidating dust contributed 285 of them while paying nobody.
Bitcoin Exchange Reserves: What the Number Actually Measures
No exchange publishes its reserve figure. Every chart you have seen is the sum of addresses a provider believes an exchange controls, and that list is never shown to you. We measured five widely reported exchange cold addresses on 16 August 2026 at block 962,803: they held 671,622 BTC, one address was 37 percent of the total, and a sixth that public lists still carry has held 0.0139 BTC since December 2022.
Bitcoin Transaction Volume: What On-Chain Volume Actually Measures
We measured every one of the 6,054 transactions in block 962,547 on 15 August 2026. Raw output volume was 3,225.69 BTC, but only 189.37 BTC reached an address that was not already an input. A single transaction, a wallet sweeping dust back into its own stack, was 76 percent of the block's headline volume: recorded as 154.9 million dollars, it moved about 140 dollars of dust and paid a 38 cent fee.
Dormant Bitcoin Wallets: How to Tell If an Address Is Asleep
The Bitcoin Pizza address received 10,000 BTC in 2010, spent it ten minutes later, and has taken tribute payments ever since, including on three Pizza Day anniversaries. Sorted by last activity it looks alive. Sorted by last spend it has been dormant for sixteen years. We tested what three public APIs actually return for that address on 13 August 2026, and none of them gave a date.
Bitcoin Data in Python: Four Public APIs Tested with requests
We called four public Bitcoin APIs from Python on 12 August 2026 and compared exactly what came back. One endpoint returns HTTP 200 and still crashes response.json(), two providers reported different block counts and both were right, and the two big explorers answer the fee question in shapes that are not interchangeable. The findings, the twenty-line client that survives them, and why no Bitcoin package is required.
Bitcoin API Rate Limits Compared: Four Providers Tested
We called four public Bitcoin endpoints on 11 August 2026 and read every response header. Only one returned a quota header, two publish no limit at all, and one reported the chain a block ahead of the others for a reason that is not a bug. What each provider tells you before it throttles you, and the four things worth building into any client.
How Much Does a Bitcoin API Cost? Prices Checked August 2026
Providers charge per request, per point, per terabyte scanned or per server, and identical usage produces very different bills. Entry prices for five options checked on 9 August 2026, what each free tier really allows, the licensing detail that moves the cheapest plan out of reach for a company, and how to estimate your bill before you commit.
How to Check a Bitcoin Address Balance on a Specific Date
The blockchain stores no balances, only unspent outputs, and explorers report the present tense. We tested four public endpoints on one address: two ignored a height parameter, one returned zeroes, one is gone. What actually works, the arithmetic behind a point-in-time balance, and the five errors that quietly corrupt one.
BigQuery Bitcoin Dataset: How to Query It and What It Costs
Google publishes the Bitcoin chain as four raw tables in BigQuery, free to access and billed per terabyte scanned. What is in the dataset, why balances and entity labels are not, the SQL that reconstructs a balance, and the four reasons a Bitcoin query gets expensive.
How to Check Multiple Bitcoin Address Balances at Once
Free bulk checkers cap out at 20 to 50 addresses per request, which is fine for a few paper wallets and useless for a treasury. The four methods compared, why the caps exist, how xpub scanning and its gap limit work, and why no balance check ever needs a private key.
How Does Bitcoin Address Clustering Work?
Address clustering groups the addresses controlled by one wallet, using common-input-ownership and change detection. How both heuristics work, what CoinJoin does to them, why false merges are the dangerous error, and where clustering stops being evidence.
How Much Does a Bitcoin Ordinals API Cost? (2026)
A Bitcoin ordinals API bills one of three ways: pay-per-call, a usage-based plan, or the infrastructure cost of self-hosting the ord indexer. The pricing models compared, what actually drives the cost, and how to budget a production ordinals app.
How to Get Bitcoin Ordinals and Inscription Data (2026)
Ordinals data comes from an indexer, not from a node: Bitcoin Core stores the blocks but never assigns sat numbers or computes BRC-20 balances. The four routes to the data, where inscriptions actually live on-chain, and why two indexers can report different balances.
How to Trace a Bitcoin Transaction (Step by Step)
Tracing a Bitcoin transaction means following each output to the transaction that spent it, hop after hop. The five-step workflow investigators use, the clustering heuristics and where they break, and the point where on-chain data stops and identity begins.
How Much Does It Cost to Run a Bitcoin Node? (2026 Breakdown)
Running a Bitcoin node in 2026 costs about $150 to $400 in one-time hardware plus a few dollars a month in power and bandwidth. The full cost breakdown, storage and sync requirements, and when an indexed Bitcoin data API is cheaper than self-hosting.
How to Calculate Cost Basis for Bitcoin (FIFO, LIFO, HIFO)
Bitcoin cost basis is what you paid to acquire a coin, including fees. How to calculate it, which accounting method to use, the 2025 per-wallet rule, and how to reconstruct basis when your records are missing.
What Is Proof of Reserves? Merkle Trees and Exchange Solvency
Proof of reserves is a check that a crypto exchange holds enough assets to cover customer balances. How the Merkle tree commitment works, how to verify reserve addresses on-chain yourself, and what the method still cannot prove.
How to Download Bitcoin Blockchain Data: Datasets, CSV and SQL
How to get Bitcoin blockchain data for research: syncing a full node, what public Bitcoin datasets actually contain, how big the chain is in 2026, and how to pull transactions and balances as CSV without indexing it yourself.
What Is a Merkle Tree in Bitcoin? Merkle Root and Proofs Explained
A Merkle tree condenses every transaction in a Bitcoin block into one Merkle root stored in the block header. How the tree is built, what a Merkle proof is, why SPV wallets depend on it, and where the pattern shows up in proof of reserves.
Bitcoin Network Statistics 2026: Key Facts and Figures
Bitcoin network statistics at a glance: total supply, block reward, block time, hashrate, difficulty and the halving schedule, with the numbers explained and where each one comes from on-chain.
How to Get Bitcoin OHLC Data: OHLCV Candles and Price History
How to get Bitcoin OHLC data: what OHLCV candles are, where daily and intraday price history comes from, and how to pull it over an API or SQL and join it to on-chain activity.
What Is Bitcoin Mining Difficulty? Hashrate and Adjustments Explained
Bitcoin mining difficulty is the measure of how hard it is to find a block. How difficulty adjusts every 2,016 blocks, how it relates to hashrate and block time, and how to read it from the chain.
How to Track Bitcoin Whales: Large Transactions and Wallet Moves
Tracking bitcoin whales means watching large transactions and big wallet balances, then separating real moves from exchange shuffles using labels. How whale tracking works, what thresholds to use, and how to read the alerts without treating them as signals.
What Is Bitcoin Supply in Profit and Loss? A Clear Guide
Bitcoin supply in profit counts the coins whose last on-chain move happened below the current price; supply in loss counts the rest. How the metric is built from UTXOs, what percent supply in profit means, and how analysts read it.
What Are HODL Waves? Bitcoin Coin Age Bands Explained
HODL waves band the entire bitcoin supply by how long each coin has stayed unspent. What the bands mean, how realized-cap HODL waves differ, and how to read long-term-holder behavior from coin age without treating it as a signal.
What Is SOPR in Bitcoin? Spent Output Profit Ratio Explained
SOPR, the spent output profit ratio, measures whether the bitcoin moving on-chain is being spent at a profit or a loss. What SOPR is, how it is calculated, what adjusted SOPR fixes, and how to read it without treating it as a signal.
What Is Bitcoin Cost Basis Distribution (URPD)? A Clear Guide
Bitcoin cost basis distribution, also called URPD, buckets the supply by the price each coin last moved at. What the cost basis distribution shows, how it is built from UTXOs, and how analysts read the clusters.
What Is the Crypto Travel Rule? A 2026 Guide for VASPs
The crypto travel rule requires VASPs to collect and pass originator and beneficiary information on transfers above a threshold. What the rule covers, the US $3,000 threshold, what data must travel, and how on-chain screening fits in.
Best Bitcoin API for Developers in 2026: How to Choose
The best Bitcoin API depends on the job: raw on-chain data, prices, node access or compliance. We compare the categories, honestly, so you can pick the right one without running your own node.
How to Get Bitcoin Transaction Notifications Without Running a Node
Get real-time Bitcoin transaction notifications with a webhook API: subscribe an address, set a confirmation threshold, and receive a callback the moment it is paid. No node, no polling.
How to Access a Bitcoin Node Without Running One
Access a Bitcoin node without running one: a node API keeps Bitcoin Core synced for you and maps JSON-RPC calls to clean REST endpoints. Skip the disk, the days-long sync and the uptime burden.
Are Crypto Transactions Traceable? How Bitcoin Tracing Works
Are crypto transactions traceable? Yes: Bitcoin is pseudonymous, not anonymous, and its public ledger lets analysts follow fund flows, cluster addresses and read entity labels. How on-chain tracing works, and what it can and cannot show.
Bitcoin Transaction Fees Explained: How Fee Estimation Works
Bitcoin transaction fees explained: why fees are priced in sat/vByte and driven by transaction size and mempool demand, not the amount you send, plus how fee estimation reads the mempool to price the right rate for your target confirmation.
How to Query the Bitcoin Blockchain: API vs SQL vs Running a Node
How to query the Bitcoin blockchain three ways: a REST API, plain SQL, and your own node. We compare setup time, indexing, and cost so you can pick the right tool for addresses, transactions and on-chain analytics.
On-Chain Metrics Explained: SOPR, Realized Cap, HODL Waves and What They Mean
On-chain metrics explained from first principles: SOPR, realized cap, HODL waves, active addresses and exchange flows, what each one measures, how it is computed from UTXOs, and how to read it. Informational only, not advice.
Reading a Bitcoin Address: Balance, UTXOs and Transaction Flows from First Principles
Bitcoin address lookup from first principles: how a balance is really the sum of unspent outputs, how to read UTXOs, inputs and outputs, and how to trace transaction flows with a REST API or SQL.
Building a Bitcoin Wallet or Explorer Without Running Your Own Node
Bitcoin API guide: how to build a wallet, explorer or analytics tool without running your own node, using indexed REST and SQL endpoints for balances, transactions, confirmations and mempool data.
Bitcoin AML and Compliance Data: What On-Chain Risk Signals Can and Can't Tell You
Bitcoin AML compliance data explained: how entity labels, exposure paths and risk signals support your own review process, what on-chain data can and cannot tell you, and where human judgment stays essential. Informational, not legal advice.
Bitcoin RPC vs REST API: Which Should You Use to Query the Chain?
Bitcoin RPC vs REST API: JSON-RPC talks to a node you run, a REST data API serves indexed results from someone else's. We compare what each returns, setup and cost, and when to pick which.
What Is an xpub? Extended Public Keys and HD Wallets Explained
What is an xpub: the extended public key at the top of an HD wallet that derives every address without exposing a private key. How xpub, ypub and zpub work, why balances derive from one key, and how to check them safely.
How Many Bitcoin Confirmations Is Safe? A Practical Guide
How many Bitcoin confirmations is safe: one confirmation is usually enough for small payments, six is the long-standing standard for large or final settlement, and exchanges set their own thresholds. Why confirmations matter and how to track them.
What Is a UTXO? The Unspent Transaction Output, Explained
What is a UTXO: an unspent transaction output, the discrete chunk of bitcoin a past transaction paid to an address and that has not yet been spent. How the UTXO model works, why your balance is a pile of UTXOs, and how it differs from an account balance.
Bitcoin Address Types Explained: Legacy, SegWit and Taproot
Bitcoin address types explained: legacy (1...), P2SH (3...), native SegWit (bc1q...) and Taproot (bc1p...), what each prefix means, how fees and compatibility differ, and how to tell which type an address is.
How to Decode a Raw Bitcoin Transaction (With and Without a Node)
How to decode a raw Bitcoin transaction: read the version, inputs, outputs, scripts and locktime from a hex string. What decoderawtransaction returns, what raw hex cannot tell you, and how to decode by txid over an API instead of running a node.
What Is Dust in Bitcoin? The Dust Limit and Dusting Attacks
What is dust in bitcoin: a UTXO so small that spending it would cost more in fees than it is worth. What the dust limit is, why wallets flag tiny outputs, how a dusting attack tries to link your addresses, and what to do about it.
What Is the Gap Limit in a Bitcoin Wallet? (And Missing Funds)
What is the gap limit: the number of consecutive unused addresses a wallet will scan before it stops looking, usually 20. Why it exists, how it can make a restored balance appear missing, and how to recover funds beyond the gap.
How to Read the Bitcoin Mempool: Fees, Congestion and Timing
How to read the Bitcoin mempool: understand the fee histogram in sat/vByte, why the mempool grows and clears, how to tell if the network is congested, and how to pick a fee rate that confirms in your target time.
What Is Realized Price in Bitcoin? Realized Cap Explained
What is realized price in bitcoin: the average price at which every coin in circulation last moved on-chain. How realized cap is built from UTXOs, how it differs from market cap, and why analysts watch it.
What Is the MVRV Ratio in Bitcoin? Market Value to Realized Value
What is the MVRV ratio: market cap divided by realized cap, a way to compare bitcoin's spot price to the aggregate cost basis of its supply. How it is calculated, what high and low readings describe, and its limits.
How to Screen a Bitcoin Address for Sanctions and Risk
How to screen a Bitcoin address for sanctions: check it against OFAC and other lists, trace exposure to high-risk entities, and turn the result into a risk decision your compliance team can defend.
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Reading is good. Live on-chain data is better.
Query the fully indexed Bitcoin blockchain by REST API, SQL and dashboards. Pull balances, UTXOs, transactions, on-chain metrics and fund flows, with new blocks available within seconds and no node to run.
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