> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.chainstack.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# eth_getBalance | Arc

> Arc API method that returns the native USDC gas balance of an account, in wei. Arc's native currency carries 18 decimals, not the 6 of the USDC ERC-20 token.

Arc API method that returns the balance of an account in wei. On Arc the native currency is USDC, which is what pays for gas, so this method returns the account's spendable gas balance.

<Warning>
  Arc's native currency carries **18 decimals**, not the 6 that the USDC ERC-20 token uses. Divide by 10<sup>18</sup>, or you will be out by a factor of 10<sup>12</sup>. See [Arc tooling](/docs/arc-tooling) for the library helpers.
</Warning>

## Parameters

* `address` — the address to check the balance for
* `blockParameter` — the block number in hexadecimal, or a tag: `latest`, `earliest`, `safe`, `finalized`, or `pending`

## Response

* `result` — the account balance in wei, encoded as hexadecimal

Divide the result by 10<sup>18</sup> to get the balance in USDC. `ethers.formatEther` and `web3.from_wei(..., "ether")` both apply that conversion, so use them rather than the 6-decimal helpers you would reach for with the USDC ERC-20 token.

## `eth_getBalance` code examples

<CodeGroup>
  ```javascript ethers.js theme={"system"}
  const ethers = require('ethers');
  const NODE_URL = "CHAINSTACK_NODE_URL";
  const provider = new ethers.JsonRpcProvider(NODE_URL);

  const getBalance = async (address) => {
      const balance = await provider.getBalance(address);
      console.log(`Balance: ${ethers.formatEther(balance)} USDC`);
    };

  getBalance("0x19d7CF8eA0CE468417d1edA365a222a9dCBC7D27");
  ```

  ```python web3.py theme={"system"}
  from web3 import Web3

  node_url = "CHAINSTACK_NODE_URL"
  web3 = Web3(Web3.HTTPProvider(node_url))

  address = Web3.to_checksum_address("0x19d7cf8ea0ce468417d1eda365a222a9dcbc7d27")
  balance = web3.eth.get_balance(address)
  print(f"Balance: {web3.from_wei(balance, 'ether')} USDC")
  ```

  ```bash cURL theme={"system"}
  curl -X POST "CHAINSTACK_NODE_URL" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "eth_getBalance", "params": ["0x19d7CF8eA0CE468417d1edA365a222a9dCBC7D27", "latest"], "id": 1}'
  ```
</CodeGroup>

<Note>
  web3.py rejects lowercase addresses with `InvalidAddress`. Wrap any address you did not get from the library itself in `Web3.to_checksum_address()`.
</Note>

## Checking ERC-20 token balances

`eth_getBalance` only reports the native USDC gas balance. To read an ERC-20 token balance, call the token contract's `balanceOf` function with [`eth_call`](/reference/arc-eth-call) and apply that token's own decimals.


## OpenAPI

````yaml openapi/arc_node_api/accounts_info/eth_getBalance.json POST /
openapi: 3.0.0
info:
  title: Chainstack Node API
  version: 1.0.0
  description: This is an API for interacting with a Chainstack node.
servers:
  - url: https://arc-testnet.core.chainstack.com/6caa7fd90475ac9214f7521dd460fa7c
security: []
paths:
  /:
    post:
      tags:
        - upload
      summary: eth_getBalance
      operationId: eth_getBalance
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              type: object
              properties:
                id:
                  type: integer
                  default: 1
                jsonrpc:
                  type: string
                  default: '2.0'
                method:
                  type: string
                  default: eth_getBalance
                params:
                  type: array
                  default:
                    - '0x5d20879655df3c1e04ab111af0009ad650e762f0'
                    - latest
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Returns the result of eth_getBalance.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: object
                properties:
                  jsonrpc:
                    type: string
                  id:
                    type: integer
                  result:
                    type: string
              example:
                jsonrpc: '2.0'
                id: 1
                result: '0x7e95defb1a447e2c6'

````