Bitcoin Price Ticker with Arduino Wifi Rev 2

Building on the last blog, where we set up the LCD with an Arduino Wifi, we will now complete the project by connecting the Wifi, fetching the Bitcoin price, and displaying it on the LCD.

Bitcoin ticker, with block height and time since last block

Updating the firmware

Install library WIFININA

Run the Firmware Updater, found in the tools menu

Test the programmer

Now run the Update Firmware, and then run the sketch CheckFirmwareVersion

Notice that the checker still reports a newer version, in the Arduino forum it informs us that this can be ignored and in a future IDE version this will update correctly.

Install library on the Arduino IDE for a HTTP client

Code

Create a file in your project called arduino_secrets.h:

define SECRET_SSID "mySSID"
define SECRET_PASS "myPWD"

Creating the client with SSL transport

Using the following API from blochchain.info: https://www.blockchain.com/api/exchange_rates_api

char server[] = "blockchain.info";
int port = 443;
WiFiSSLClient wifi;
HttpClient client = HttpClient(wifi, server, port);

Making the HTTP request

In loop() {}

client.get("/tobtc?currency=USD&value=10000");
String response = client.responseBody();
btcPrice = 10000./response.toFloat();

// displaying on LCD
lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
lcd.print(btcPrice);

// add a delay

Upload the sketch and you should see the price updating.

Adding Bitcoin icon as custom character

Referencing this or using Excel:

byte Bitcoin[8] = {
0b01010,0b11110,0b01001,0b01001,0b01110,0b01001,0b01001,0b11110
};
...
void setup() {
...
lcd.createChar(0, Bitcoin);
...
lcd.write(byte(0));

That’s it for the moment. There are many ways to build on this setup, so be creative, and let me know in the comments below how you go.