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Chainlist: What It Is, How It Works | Everything You Need To Know 

 

By Block Angels Jan 01, 2025

 

 

Chainlist is a useful platform with a list of EVM-compatible chains, enabling users to easily find appropriate chain or network information to facilitate smooth use of blockchains by consumers. 

 

Chainlist includes both mainnet and testnet information of EVM networks, ensuring that both testers and mainnet users can easily connect to their favourite blockchains and carry out desired tasks. 

 

In this comprehensive guide, we'll cover everything you need to know to use Chainlist effectively to connect to web3 services flexibly through your preferred wallet. 

 

Understanding Chainlist | Introduction

 

What Is Chainlist? 

 

Chainlist is a simple directory of chain or network IDs of EVM-compatible blockchains alongside RPCs server addresses to easily connect to chains and use them at convenience.

 

EVM is short for Ethereum Virtual Machine, blockchains are considered EVM-compatible when they can run EVM and execute smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. 
 

RPC stands for Remote Procedure Call and is a communication protocol that enables applications to interact with the Ethereum blockchain. 

 

Most popular crypto wallets have pre-defined Chain IDs and RPCs for popular blockchains, but with the explosive development of varying EVM-compatible blockchains, some chains are not pre-added to these wallets. 

 

As a result, users may have to figure out these bits of information to be able to connect to their favourite blockchains, especially in wallets like Metamask. 

 

Chainlist takes away the headache of digging through project docs to figure out necessary chain information, with an easy browse of the public database, one can easily find appropriate information needed to connect to any functioning EVM chain, including testnets. 

 

How Does Chainlist Work? | A Guide To Using Chainlist

 

Chainlist is not some sophisticated system that requires any special skills to use, it offers a simple copy and paste, alongside an easy “click to action” solution to connecting and using any EVM-compatible chain. 

 

To use Chainlist, one must first determine the needed chain, once known, simply head over to Chainlist.org and search for the chain using the provided search box. 

 

If the searched chain is an EVM-compatible blockchain, it will be available in the search results with an option to either directly connect your wallet and add the selected chain or manually copy the needed information like Chain ID and RPC address to use within your wallet. 

 

That said, when using Chainlist, it is important to pay attention to certain information under the list of RPCs. 
 

As a communication protocol, RPCs serve as a bridge between wallet applications and blockchain networks. Being a bridge means that sensitive information is passed through the protocol in the process of passing on on-chain data for execution. 

 

An example of such data is a user’s IP address. RPC providers can collect a variety of data depending on their configuration and your usage of their services. 

 

It is important to review the privacy policy of the providers if directly possible. Some RPC URLs will redirect to the providers official websites if visited on a browser. However, some may not but there's an alternative way to determine what level of privacy there is with each RPC. 

 

Directly on Chainlist.org, by each RPC address is information on latency, which indicates the time it takes for a data packet to travel from one point to another and back, essentially how fast it will be at communicating with the blockchain and facilitating any operation. 

 

The lower the latency, the better. In addition, there's also an indicator of privacy levels of each RPC address. A green tick icon means that the provider potentially runs a privacy preserving service that may not collect sensitive data on your usage. 

 

Does Chainlist.org Include Solana And Alternative Chains? 

 

No, Chainlist.org is a list of only EVM-compatible chains as such, does not include information on Solana or any other alternative blockchain without EVM compatibility.

 

Is Chainlist Safe? 

 

Judging by its wide usage amongst varying crypto investors, using information posted on Chainlist is safe. However, privacy-wise, it is important to always review the services you're using to avoid your sensitive data being exploited. 

 

Who Founded Chainlist? 

 

While there's limited information on the founder of Chainlist, Andre Cronje is suggested to be the original developer of Chainlist.org. 

 

The Bottom Line 

 

Chainlist serves as a tool of convenience, enabling web3 users to easily connect and transact in their favourite EVM blockchain through various decentralized applications and cryptocurrency wallets. 

 

From Chain IDs to high performance RPC addresses, Chainlist.org offers a comprehensive information platform for anyone to flexibly leverage EVM-compatible blockchains.