# Explorer Gateway API — Bitcoin Block Lookup

> Explorer Gateway API — Bitcoin Block Lookup is a paid API for AI agents from api.blockchain.com, paid per call via x402, $0.003/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-30).

Retrieves detailed information about a specific Bitcoin block by its hash or height

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://api.blockchain.com/explorer-gateway-kt/x402/btc/block?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.003/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-30
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/explorer-gateway-api-bitcoin-block-lookup-615d89e4
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_5w7J9fVmxjVayu_jKqTOB

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability explorer-gateway-api-bitcoin-block-lookup-615d89e4 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Look up the Bitcoin block at height 850000 on the Blockchain.com explorer and give me the block details including its hash and transactions.

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when you need structured Bitcoin block data (by hash or height) from a production-grade explorer API with pay-per-call pricing. Prefer it over running a full Bitcoin node or scraping block explorer websites when you need reliable, programmatic access to BTC block metadata without infrastructure overhead.

## Known failure modes

- Invalid or malformed block hash (not 64 hex characters) returns a 4xx error
- Block height not yet mined or negative value returns not-found error
- Providing both hash and height simultaneously may return an error or ambiguous result
- Network or gateway timeout for very recent blocks not yet indexed
- Rate limit or payment failure returns 402 Payment Required

## How this service works

Blockchain explorer gateway — Solana, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum

## Output

Returns a JSON object containing detailed information about the requested Bitcoin block, including block hash, height, timestamp, number of transactions, miner/coinbase data, block size, difficulty, nonce, and parent block hash.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "hash": {
   "type": "string",
   "example": "000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f",
   "description": "Block hash — exactly 64 hex characters. Provide either hash or height, not both."
  },
  "height": {
   "type": "integer",
   "format": "int64",
   "example": 850000,
   "description": "Block height (non-negative integer). Provide either hash or height, not both."
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "format": "application/json"
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/explorer-gateway-api-bitcoin-block-lookup-615d89e4/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from api.blockchain.com](https://www.zero.xyz/host/api.blockchain.com/llms.txt)