Assets
An asset is a representation of value on a blockchain network. Common types of assets include (fungible) tokens and NFTs (non-fungible tokens).
The Platform API supports two assets on the Base Sepolia network:
- Ether, also known as ETH: This is the native token of many networks that run on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), including Base. ETH is used to pay for transactions on the network, and the network provides native APIs to send, receive, and otherwise interact with ETH.
- USDC: This is an ERC-20 token, backed 1:1 by a U.S. Dollar.
- WETH: This is an ERC-20 token, backed 1:1 by ETH.
Because the Base Sepolia network is a testnet, none of the tokens on this network actually confers any value—they are provided for testing purposes.
Asset IDs
Throughout the Platform APIs and SDK, assets are referred to via their asset IDs.
In Ruby, asset IDs are symbols that resemble tickers:
- ETH's asset ID is
:eth - USDC's asset ID is
:usdc - WETH's asset ID is
:weth
Denominations of ETH
ETH provides 18 places of decimal precision. The smallest amount of sendable ETH is 10-18, also known as a Wei.
Commonly used denominations of ETH:
| Denomination | Amount in Wei | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Wei | 1 Wei | Smallest denomination of ETH |
| Gwei | 109 Wei | Denomination of ETH commonly used for gas (i.e., transaction fee) calculations |
| Ether / ETH | 1018 Wei | Largest denomination of ETH, commonly used for trading |
The SDK supports transfers in denominations of Wei, Gwei, and ETH.
SDK Documentation
Refer to the Asset class SDK docs for a full list of supported methods.