net_version

BNB Smart Chain settles BNB-paid fees and BEP-20 transfers under PoSA consensus. When you need to confirm a node is wired to the right one, net_version is the quickest check. It returns the network ID of the connected chain as a decimal string. On BNB Smart Chain mainnet that string is exactly "56", and the testnet answers "97". Send the request to https://bsc.therpc.io/YOUR_API_KEY against chain ID 56 and a correctly configured mainnet node replies with "56". The value arrives as a plain decimal string rather than a hex quantity, so comparing it directly in client code takes no extra parsing.

Use cases

Verify a wallet or dApp points at BNB Smart Chain mainnet, expecting "56", before broadcasting a BNB-funded transaction.
Branch environment-aware logic on the returned string, treating "56" as production mainnet and "97" as the testnet sandbox.

Parameters

This method takes no parameters. Pass an empty array [].

Response

Type	Description
string	Decimal string network ID, e.g. `"1"` for Ethereum mainnet. Note: network ID and chain ID coincide on most networks but can differ.

Example request

1curl https://bsc.therpc.io/YOUR_API_KEY \
2  -X POST \
3  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
4  -d '{
5    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
6    "method": "net_version",
7    "params": [],
8    "id": 1
9  }'

Try it live in the BNB Smart Chain playground.

Errors & troubleshooting

Common pitfalls

Network ID and chain ID happen to coincide on BNB Smart Chain at 56, but they are distinct concepts that diverge on some networks, so always rely on eth_chainId for the value baked into transaction signatures.
This response is a decimal string, unlike the hex-encoded quantities most numeric RPC methods return, so do not feed it through a hex parser before comparing.

Supported networks

Mainnet — Chain ID: 56
Testnet — Chain ID: 97