<p>Bitcoin Core does not track each individual address, only the addresses associated with your wallet.</p>

<p>There are other clients, such as bitcore-insight and <a href="https://github.com/btcsuite/btcd" rel="nofollow noreferrer">btcd</a>, which maintain a separate address index.</p>

<p>Alternatively, you can implement an index yourself, or run an existing one such as <a href="https://github.com/kyuupichan/electrumx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ElectrumX</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-03T14:23:37.747Z
2019-07-03T14:23:37.747Z
Raghav Sood
<p>I'm using bitcoin core json-rpc api in python and am wondering why... </p>

<pre><code>getreceivedbyaddress()
</code></pre>

<p>...doesn't allow me to specify an address that isn't in my local wallet?</p>

<p>The whole blockchain is open, I can search anyone's address/balance via a web browser, so why would the API prevent me checking?</p>

<p>Is there another method for doing this that I'm missing?</p>

<bitcoin-core><json-rpc><api><python>
Checking external bitcoin address balances via JSON-RPC API
d3wannabe
# Checking external bitcoin address balances via JSON-RPC API

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-07-03)

I'm using bitcoin core json-rpc api in python and am wondering why...

```
getreceivedbyaddress()

```

...doesn't allow me to specify an address that isn't in my local wallet?

The whole blockchain is open, I can search anyone's address/balance via a web browser, so why would the API prevent me checking?

Is there another method for doing this that I'm missing?

**Tags:** bitcoin-core, json-rpc, api, python


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-07-03. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Bitcoin Core does not track each individual address, only the addresses associated with your wallet.

There are other clients, such as bitcore-insight and [btcd](https://github.com/btcsuite/btcd), which maintain a separate address index.

Alternatively, you can implement an index yourself, or run an existing one such as [ElectrumX](https://github.com/kyuupichan/electrumx).


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