Why Hive

Crypto MCP Server

Written by , CEO & Co-Founder, Hive IntelligenceLast updated

Hive Intelligence is the managed crypto MCP server for AI agents. One endpoint federating 9 providers — CoinGecko, DeFiLlama, GoPlus, Codex, CCXT, GoldRush, Helius, Tenderly, Moralis — across live prices, DeFi analytics, wallet intelligence, token security, DEX activity, and prediction markets. Connect Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, or any MCP client and your agent is on the crypto market in under 30 seconds. Free Demo tier includes 10,000 monthly credits and every tool.

Start free with 10K credits → Try it in the playground

A Crypto MCP Server is a Model Context Protocol endpoint that connects AI agents — Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, Gemini, Windsurf, Codex — to real-time blockchain and financial data. Hive runs the server so you don't have to: upstream auth, rate limits, schema normalization, and uptime are managed. You get one API key and one credit currency.


Why a managed Crypto MCP server

Rolling your own crypto data layer means stitching together separate provider APIs, each with its own authentication, rate limits, response shapes, pagination model, and error codes. Hive replaces that patchwork with one MCP connection:

  • One API key across every data surface Hive normalizes.
  • Runtime tool discovery -- your agent finds tools via tools/list or hive://tools rather than hard-coding function definitions.
  • One credit currency -- every tool call costs one credit regardless of which data surface serves it.
  • Deterministic tool names and stable input schemas designed for LLM function calling, not human REST consumption.
  • Standardized error codes -- your agent handles 4xx/5xx consistently across every tool.

If you are shipping a research agent, a trading bot, a wallet analyzer, or a security scanner, this is the data connection point.


Quick start

# Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http hive "https://mcp.hiveintelligence.xyz/mcp" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_HIVE_API_KEY"

Full Claude integration guide has Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Claude API setups. For LangChain and CrewAI, see the MCP integration tutorial.


Coverage

Hundreds of tools, one endpoint, ten capability-focused surfaces:

CapabilityWhat you get
Market dataPrices, market caps, volume, historical OHLC, trending
DeFi analyticsTVL, yields, fees, protocol metrics across 200+ chains
Security & riskToken security, honeypot detection, owner-privilege risk, rug-pull scans
On-chain / DEX60+ chains, pool and pair data, trade flow
Exchange data100+ CEXs, spot, perps, funding rates
Wallet & portfolioBalances, transactions, PnL, NFT holdings across 100+ chains
Solana depthNative RPC, Digital Asset Standard, compressed NFTs, priority fees
Transaction simulationEVM simulation, gas estimation, calldata decoding
Prediction marketsPolymarket event data, trader positions
Cross-chain walletsUnified indexing across EVM, Bitcoin, Solana

Every capability is exposed as a callable MCP tool on the Hive endpoint. See Data Coverage for full scope.


What the Hive MCP Server exposes

The Hive MCP server speaks the Model Context Protocol over streamable HTTP and Server-Sent Events. Any MCP-compatible client -- Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, ChatGPT Desktop, Codex CLI, or Gemini CLI -- can connect and discover Hive's full tool surface at runtime.

  • Root MCP endpoint: POST https://mcp.hiveintelligence.xyz/mcp
  • 10 category-scoped MCP endpoints (e.g. /hive_market_data/mcp, /hive_security_risk/mcp)
  • Hundreds of categorized tools on the category endpoints
  • Hundreds of live direct tools in the full wrapped catalog
  • Runtime discovery via tools/list and hive://tools
  • Transport: Streamable HTTP (JSON-RPC over HTTP)

The server is a thin, high-uptime layer in front of a unified data fabric. Your agent pays one credit per tool call regardless of which underlying dataset serves it.


Root endpoint vs category endpoints

Hive exposes the same tool catalog through two shapes. Pick based on how focused your agent is.

Root /mcp

Use the root endpoint when your agent needs discovery, schema lookup, and access to the broader live catalog. This is the right default for general-purpose agents that may reach into any category.

  • Full tools/list over the wrapped catalog
  • hive://tools, hive://categories, hive://providers discovery resources
  • get_api_endpoint_schema for on-demand parameter lookup

Category-scoped endpoints

Use category endpoints when you want a smaller, sharper tool surface. This improves tool-selection accuracy for LLM agents by eliminating irrelevant choices.

CategoryEndpointWhen to use
Market Data/hive_market_data/mcpPrices, caps, trending coins
DEX Analytics/hive_onchain_dex/mcpPools, liquidity, on-chain trading
DeFi Protocols/hive_defi_protocol/mcpTVL, yields, fees
Security & Risk/hive_security_risk/mcpHoneypot and contract risk
Portfolio & Wallet/hive_portfolio_wallet/mcpBalances, history, NFTs
Token & Contract/hive_token_contract/mcpMetadata, holders, decimals
NFT Analytics/hive_nft_analytics/mcpFloor, volume, collections, compressed NFTs
Prediction Markets/hive_prediction_markets/mcpPolymarket events and outcomes
Search & Discovery/hive_search_discovery/mcpCross-provider search
Network & Infrastructure/hive_network_infrastructure/mcpChain info, gas, block data, Solana RPC

Agents can connect to more than one category endpoint simultaneously. A "market + security" agent, for example, can wire up /hive_market_data/mcp and /hive_security_risk/mcp together and ignore everything else.


Authentication

Every request to the MCP server or the REST execute surface needs an API key. Use either header shape:

  • Authorization: Bearer YOUR_HIVE_API_KEY (recommended)
  • x-api-key: YOUR_HIVE_API_KEY (legacy alias, also accepted)

API keys are created and rotated from the dashboard. The Free Demo tier includes 5 keys and 10,000 monthly credits.


Discovery resources

Read these from the root endpoint to understand what is available before you call anything:

  • hive://tools -- the full live tool inventory (name, description, input schema)
  • hive://categories -- the 10 category namespaces and their endpoints
  • hive://providers -- the 9 active provider integrations and what each contributes
  • get_api_endpoint_schema -- on-demand parameter lookup for any tool

These are the authoritative, runtime-facing views from the live server and should be preferred over any static documentation your agent may have cached.


Example MCP call

curl -X POST https://mcp.hiveintelligence.xyz/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_HIVE_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "tools/call",
    "params": {
      "name": "get_price",
      "arguments": {
        "ids": "bitcoin",
        "vs_currencies": "usd"
      }
    },
    "id": 1
  }'

Example client configuration

Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hive": {
      "url": "https://mcp.hiveintelligence.xyz/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_HIVE_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hive": {
      "url": "https://mcp.hiveintelligence.xyz/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_HIVE_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http hive "https://mcp.hiveintelligence.xyz/mcp" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_HIVE_API_KEY"