Description

Returns the balance of a given address as of the provided block.

Parameters

blockTag parameters

• pending - A sample next block built by the client on top of latest and containing the set of transactions usually taken from local mempool. Intuitively, you can think of these as blocks that have not been mined yet.
• latest - The most recent block in the canonical chain observed by the client, this block may be re-orged out of the canonical chain even under healthy/normal conditions.
• safe - The most recent crypto-economically secure block, cannot be re-orged outside of manual intervention driven by community coordination. Intuitively, this block is “unlikely” to be re-orged. Only available on Ethereum Goerli.
• finalized - The most recent crypto-economically secure block, that has been accepted by >2/3 of validators. Cannot be re-orged outside of manual intervention driven by community coordination. Intuitively, this block is very unlikely to be re-orged. Only available on Ethereum Goerli.
• earliest - The lowest numbered block the client has available. Intuitively, you can think of this as the first block created.

Response

Example Request and Response

Prerequisite: You will need to install the Alchemy SDK before making requests with it.

The commands for installing it using npm or yarn are given below:

npm install alchemy-sdk

yarn add alchemy-sdk

Request

Here is an example of how to make a getBalance request using the Alchemy SDK:

// Imports the Alchemy SDK
const { Alchemy, Network } = require("alchemy-sdk");

// Configures the Alchemy SDK
const config = {
    apiKey: "alchemy-replit", // Replace with your API key
    network: Network.ETH_MAINNET, // Replace with your network
};

// Creates an Alchemy object instance with the config to use for making requests
const alchemy = new Alchemy(config);

const main = async () => {
  	// This response fetches the balance of the given address in the paramter as of the provided block.
    let response = await alchemy.core.getBalance("vitalik.eth", "latest")

    //Logging the response to the console
    console.log(response)
};

main();

Response

BigNumber { _hex: '0x015336dfb4eec83a6dcd', _isBigNumber: true }

Code Sandbox

You can test out the getBalance method using the code sandbox below:

Use Cases

Here are some common use cases for the getBalance method:

• Retrieve balance: One of the most common use cases for getBalance is to retrieve the balance of a particular address on the blockchain.

• Payment verification: getBalance can also be used to verify that a payment has been made or received.

Related Methods

Here are the methods related to getBalance:

• getAssetTransfers: Get transactions for specific addresses
• call: Returns the result of executing the transaction, using call.