Question

I was looking for official web API to operating with Bitcoin system, but found nothing.

Thank you in advance!

Was it helpful?

Solution

If you're fine with securing and running your own Bitcoin server and interacting with that, there's a guide at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/API_reference_(JSON-RPC). But if you're not comfortable securing your own instance of bitcoind, then you could always use a third-party service like Blockchain.info's API.

Please be aware that hackers are particularly targeting servers and websites that they think probably hold bitcoin. If you're thinking of launching a Bitcoin service, take a lot of time to educate yourself about the services that have lost their users' funds and what they did wrong. Take a look at Blockchain.info if you want to see a Bitcoin web service implemented well. Their servers never hold private keys "in the clear", so bitcoin cannot be stolen from their users if their servers are ever compromised.

Update: If you are building a Bitcoin service that holds bitcoin for users, the current "best practice" (circa June 2014) is to generate a hierarchical deterministic wallet using a random string of words as a seed and encrypt it client side with the user's username and password. At that point it's safe to send to the server for storage. The user should be shown the seed used to generate their HD wallet and prompted to write it down and store it somewhere safe. Without this string, it will be impossible for them to retrieve their wallet in the event they forget their username or password. When the user logs in later, the client-side code should grab the encrypted wallet and decrypt it again client-side. All operations requiring a decrypted wallet, such as signing transactions, should be done client-side. The server should never be exposed to the wallet "in the clear."

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