Ethereum: Historical Bitcoin Data in JSON
Currently, the only API that serves historical Bitcoin data is [Blockchain.info]( However, this API only uses USD as its default currency and does not provide the ability to serve data other than USD.
The Challenge
Given the limitations of currently available APIs, it is essential to create a custom solution that meets the requirements. In this article, we will explore the possibilities of creating a JSON-based API for historical Bitcoin data on Ethereum.
Requirements
To develop an Ethereum-based API for historical Bitcoin data, the following requirements must be met:
- API Endpoints
: The API must have endpoints that allow historical data to be retrieved in JSON format.
- Currency Support: The API should support multiple currencies, including USD, EUR, GBP, and more.
- Historical Data Format: The API should return historical Bitcoin prices in a standard JSON format.
Suggestion
To meet these requirements, we can create a custom API using Node.js and Express.js, which are popular JavaScript frameworks for building web applications. Here is an overview of the proposed solution:
Step 1: Define the Data Model
We will design a simple data model to store historical Bitcoin prices in Ethereum. This will include columns for date, timestamp, open price, close price, and volume.
const dataModel = {
id: 'eth-bitcoin-historical-data',
table: ['date', 'timestamp', 'open_price', 'close_price', 'volume'],
schema: {
'date': { type: 'string' },
'timestamp': { type: 'string' },
'open_price': { type: 'number' },
'close_price': { type: 'number' },
'volume': { type: 'integer' }
} }
};
Step 2: Create the API endpoints
We will create four endpoints for historical Bitcoin data:
GET /historical-data
: Returns a list of all historical data points.
GET /historical-data/:date
: Returns a single historical data point for a given date.
GET /historical-data/:timestamp
: Returns a single historical data point for a given timestamp.
POST /historical-data
: Creates a new historical data point.
“`javascript
const express = require(‘express’);
const app = express();
app.use(express.json());
// GET /historical data
app.get(‘/historical-data’, (req, res) => {
const date = req.query.date;
// Apply logic to retrieve all historical data points for a given date
res.json(dataModel);
});
// GET /historical-data/:date
app.get(‘/historical-data/:date’, (req, res) => {
const date = req.params.date;
// Apply logic to retrieve a single historical data point for the given date
const dataPoint = dataModel.find((d) => d.date === date);
if ( ! dataPoint ) {
res.status(404).send({ message: ‘Data not found’ });
} else {
res.json(dataPoint);
} }
});
// GET /historical-data/:timestamp
app.get(‘/historical-data/:timestamp’, (req, res) => {
const timestamp = req.params.timestamp;
// Apply logic to retrieve a single historical data point for the given timestamp
const dataPoint = dataModel.find((d) => d.timestamp === timestamp);
if ( ! dataPoint ) {
res.status(404).send({ message: ‘Data not found’ });
} else {
res . json ( dataPoint ) ;
} }
});
// POST /historical-data
app.post(‘/historical-data’, (req, res) => {
const data = req.body;
// Apply logic to create a new historical data point
const newDataPoint = dataModel.push({
date: data.date,
open_price: data.open_price,
close_price: data.close_price,
volume: data.volume,
});
if ( ! newDataPoint ) {
res . status ( 404 )