What Is an RPC?
An RPC endpoint is the phone line between your wallet and a blockchain: the server your wallet queries for balances and broadcasts transactions through. You use one constantly without seeing it, and its choice quietly decides who observes your activity and how your transactions reach the network.
How It Actually Works
- Wallets ship with default RPCs run by infrastructure companies. Every balance check and broadcast flows through them: they see your address, your IP, and your pending intentions.
- The RPC relays your transaction into the public mempool, where MEV bots read it. Private or protected RPCs route around the public pool instead, submitting directly to block builders, which is the practical defense against sandwich attacks that wallets increasingly offer as a toggle.
- Anyone can run their own endpoint by running a node: maximum privacy and trust-nobody verification, at the cost of maintenance.
Risks and Common Mistakes
- Adding custom RPCs from random guides: a malicious endpoint can lie about balances and feed you doctored data. Take endpoints only from official chain documentation.
- Assuming wallet privacy: default RPC operators can log address-to-IP linkage, the quiet deanonymization vector flagged in my Arkham review.
- Overpaying the sandwich tax on size because the protected-RPC toggle stayed off. Check what your wallet offers; my Rabby review covers one good implementation.
When It Matters
Big trades (use protection), privacy hygiene (know who your wallet calls), and any troubleshooting where balances look wrong: the first question is which endpoint you are trusting.
Related Terms
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