MCP server

A crypto MCP server for AI agents and assistants

Connect Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client to live crypto prices, history, and technical indicators — no glue code, no custom integration.

Get a free API key
Read the docs

What is MCP

A standard way for AI to reach live data

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard for connecting AI assistants to external tools and data. Instead of an LLM guessing at stale training-data prices, an MCP server gives it a live, structured way to ask — and get a real answer back.

Asset tools

Listings, details, historical prices, and the markets each asset trades on.

Technical analysis tools

RSI, SMA, EMA, MACD, VWAP, and candlestick data, computed server-side.

Market & exchange tools

Exchange listings, individual market data, and currency conversion rates.

Tools are loaded dynamically from CoinCap's live API specification every time the server starts — there is no fixed, hardcoded tool count. As the API grows, the tools available to your assistant grow with it automatically.

Works with Claude Desktop, Cursor, and any other MCP-compatible client — over stdio for local clients like those, or streamable HTTP for remote clients like MCP Inspector.

Install

Connect it in three steps

No build step required — npx coincap-mcp-server runs the server directly.

01

Get a credential

Grab a free CoinCap API key (requires a free Pro account), or skip the account entirely with an EVM wallet holding USDC on Base for keyless x402 access to the agent-friendly tools.

COINCAP_API_KEY — free from pro.coincap.io
X402_PRIVATE_KEY — a wallet with USDC on Base
02

Add the MCP config

Add this block to your client's MCP settings. Claude Desktop and Cursor both use the same mcpServers JSON shape.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crypto-prices": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["coincap-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "COINCAP_API_KEY": "your_coincap_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}
03

Ask it something

Once connected, ask in plain language — the assistant picks the right tool call.

"What's the current price of ethereum in USD?"

"Show me bitcoin's market cap history for the last 30 days"

"Which exchanges have the deepest SOL/USDC market?"

"What's the top crypto news right now?"

No API key required

The agent-friendly tools work without an account

Ten agentFriendly REST endpoints — compact, LLM-optimized responses — are exposed as MCP tools and accept x402 pay-per-call payment in USDC on Base instead of an API key. Point the server at a wallet and it pays for what it uses.

No signup for these 10 tools

A wallet holding USDC on Base is the only credential the agent-friendly tools need.

Signed off-chain, no gas needed

Payments are authorized via EIP-3009 signatures, not on-chain transactions — the wallet needs USDC only, never ETH.

Everything else still needs a key

The remaining tools — loaded dynamically alongside the agent-friendly ones — require a CoinCap API key as usual.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crypto-prices": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["coincap-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "X402_PRIVATE_KEY": "0x_your_wallet_private_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Use a dedicated, low-balance wallet. Fund it with only what you intend to spend on API calls, and never reuse a wallet holding significant funds — this key is read by both the npm package and your AI client.

The 10 agent-friendly routes, priced from $0.002 to $0.01 per call — see pricing for how that's calculated:

Asset searchFull asset dataTop newsPrice historyMarket-cap historyTotal market-cap historySMAEMARSIMACD