Network properties

Each network in cg.networks is a NetworkDescriptor instance. Depending on the network type (UTXO or EVM), different properties and methods are available.

Common to all networks

Every NetworkDescriptor exposes:

• id (string) — Stable identifier (e.g., 'bitcoin', 'ethereum').
• name (string) — Human-readable name (e.g., Bitcoin, Ethereum).
• symbol (string) — Ticker symbol for the native asset (e.g., BTC, ETH).
• type ('evm' | 'utxo') — Network type.
• decimals (number) — Decimal places for the native asset (e.g., 8 for BTC, 18 for ETH).
• isTestnet (boolean) — Whether this is a testnet network.
• hasOwnToken (boolean) — Whether the network has its own native token.
• nativeToken (object) — Native token metadata with symbol and name fields.
• defaultAddressType (string) — Default address encoding (e.g., 'segwit', 'eoa').
• addressTypes (object) — Supported address types with their derivation paths.
• rpcUrl (string) — Pre-built JSON-RPC endpoint URL with the API key appended.
• chainId (number, EVM only) — EVM chain ID per EIP-155.

import { ChainGate } from 'chaingate'

const cg = new ChainGate({ apiKey: 'your-api-key' })

const btc = cg.networks.bitcoin
console.log(btc.id)              // 'bitcoin'
console.log(btc.name)            // 'Bitcoin'
console.log(btc.symbol)          // 'BTC'
console.log(btc.type)            // 'utxo'
console.log(btc.decimals)        // 8
console.log(btc.isTestnet)       // false
console.log(btc.defaultAddressType) // 'segwit'

UTXO networks

UtxoNetworkDescriptor extends the base with address types such as segwit, taproot, and legacy, each with their own derivation path. Additional methods:

• publicKeyToAddress(publicKey, addressType?) — Derive an address from a public key.
• isValidAddress(address) — Check if a string is a valid address for this network.
• identifyAddressType(address) — Detect the detailed address type from an address string (e.g. 'segwit-p2wpkh', 'legacy-p2pkh', 'taproot-p2tr').

const btc = cg.networks.bitcoin

// Derive a segwit address from a public key
const address = btc.publicKeyToAddress(publicKeyBytes, 'segwit')

// Validate an address
btc.isValidAddress('bc1q...')  // true
btc.isValidAddress('invalid')  // false

// Identify address type
const type = btc.identifyAddressType('bc1q...')
console.log(type) // 'segwit-p2wpkh'

tip

See Validate addresses for a complete list of detailed address types and more examples.

EVM networks

EvmNetworkDescriptor exposes:

• publicKeyToAddress(publicKey) — Derive an EIP-55 checksummed address.
• isValidAddress(address) — Check if a string is a valid EVM address (with EIP-55 checksum verification for mixed-case addresses).
• chainId (number) — EVM chain ID per EIP-155.

const eth = cg.networks.ethereum

const address = eth.publicKeyToAddress(publicKeyBytes)
console.log(address) // '0xAb5801a7...'
console.log(eth.chainId) // 1

// Validate an address
eth.isValidAddress('0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045') // true
eth.isValidAddress('not-an-address')                                // false

Detect if a network is EVM-compatible

import { ChainGate, EvmNetworkDescriptor } from 'chaingate'

const cg = new ChainGate({ apiKey: 'your-api-key' })
const network = cg.networks.ethereum

if (network instanceof EvmNetworkDescriptor) {
  console.log('Chain ID:', network.chainId) // 1
}