CryptoCompare

Overview

CryptoCompare provides cryptocurrency market data — prices, historical data, and market caps across exchanges. It was acquired by CoinDesk, and the API now requires a free API key from the CoinDesk developer platform.

⚠️ Breaking change (verified 2026-08): keyless requests now return HTTP 401 “API key required, please refer to the documentation at developers.coindesk.com” — the free anonymous tier is gone. Register at developers.coindesk.com for a key.

Quick Start

Register at developers.coindesk.com, then (replace YOUR_KEY):

curl "https://min-api.cryptocompare.com/data/price?fsym=BTC&tsyms=USD" \
  -H "authorization: Apikey YOUR_KEY"

{ "USD": 67234.5 }

Historical daily:

curl "https://min-api.cryptocompare.com/data/v2/histoday?fsym=BTC&tsym=USD&limit=10" \
  -H "authorization: Apikey YOUR_KEY"

Top list:

curl "https://min-api.cryptocompare.com/data/top/mktcapfull?limit=5&tsym=USD" \
  -H "authorization: Apikey YOUR_KEY"

Authentication

• Register at developers.coindesk.com → free API key.
• Send it as the authorization: Apikey YOUR_KEY header (missing key → 401, verified).

Rate Limits & Notes

• Free tier has rate limits (check the CoinDesk developer docs); paid tiers scale.
• The min-api.cryptocompare.com host still works with the new auth.
• Endpoints: /data/price, /data/v2/histoday, /data/top/mktcapfull, /data/pricehistorical, and more.
• Historical depth and websockets depend on the plan.

FAQ

Is CryptoCompare free? A free API key is required (401 without it, verified) — register at developers.coindesk.com.

Why did my old keyless calls break? CryptoCompare was acquired by CoinDesk — the anonymous tier was removed in 2026.

Is the host still the same? Yes — min-api.cryptocompare.com works, just with the new authorization header.