# core-concepts
Supported Chains
ChainAlert monitors EVM-compatible blockchains in real time. Every supported chain gets its own dedicated poller that tracks new blocks as they're confirmed.
$ networks --list
$ _
Ethereum
The original smart contract platform. Monitor DeFi protocols, NFT contracts, DAOs, and more.
Arbitrum One
Ethereum's leading L2 rollup. Sub-second block times mean near-instant detection of on-chain activity.
Base
Coinbase's L2, built on the OP Stack. Growing ecosystem of consumer and DeFi applications.
Polygon
High-throughput sidechain with a massive app ecosystem. Ideal for monitoring high-frequency contracts.
Testnet
Sepolia
Ethereum testnet (chain ID: 11155111, ~12s blocks). Use for testing detections before deploying to mainnet.
Detection Latency
How fast ChainAlert detects on-chain activity depends on the chain's block time and the detection type.
Event-based detections — detected within half the block time (6s on Ethereum, 500ms on Arbitrum, 1s on Base/Polygon)
Poll-based detections — depends on configured interval (default 30–60s, minimum 10s)
Shared block-polling — adding new detections doesn't increase RPC load for event-based rules. One poller per chain serves all organizations.
Automatic ABI Resolution
When you target a specific contract, ChainAlert attempts to resolve its ABI automatically:
Block explorers — Etherscan, Arbiscan, Basescan, and Polygonscan for verified contracts
Sourcify — decentralized verification repository as a fallback
Proxy detection — if the contract is a proxy (EIP-1967/EIP-1822), the implementation ABI is resolved automatically
Built-in ABIs — standard events like ERC-20 Transfer work on any contract, even unverified ones
More Chains Coming
ChainAlert is designed to support any EVM-compatible chain. Adding a new network is a configuration change — no code modifications required. We're actively evaluating Optimism, Avalanche C-Chain, BSC, and other chains based on customer demand.