diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 04c4bf956..32be356c6 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -20,10 +20,13 @@ time = "0.1"
 evmjit = { path = "rust-evmjit", optional = true }
 ethash = { path = "ethash" }
 num_cpus = "0.2"
+jsonrpc-core = { version = "1.0", optional = true }
+jsonrpc-http-server = { version = "1.0", optional = true }
 
 [features]
 jit = ["evmjit"]
 evm_debug = []
+rpc = ["jsonrpc-core", "jsonrpc-http-server"]
 
 [[bin]]
 name = "client"
diff --git a/src/bin/client/ethrpc.rs b/src/bin/client/ethrpc.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d46a91559
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/bin/client/ethrpc.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+extern crate jsonrpc_core;
+extern crate jsonrpc_http_server;
+
+use std::sync::{Arc, RwLock};
+use self::jsonrpc_core::{IoHandler, IoDelegate, Params, Value, Error, ErrorCode};
+use ethcore::client::*;
+
+struct Eth {
+	client: Arc<RwLock<Client>>
+}
+
+impl Eth {
+	fn new(client: Arc<RwLock<Client>>) -> Self {
+		Eth {
+			client: client
+		}
+	}
+
+	fn block_number(&self, params: Params) -> Result<Value, Error> {
+		match params {
+			Params::None => Ok(Value::U64(self.client.read().unwrap().chain_info().best_block_number)),
+			_ => Err(Error::new(ErrorCode::InvalidParams)),
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+struct EthRpc;
+
+impl EthRpc {
+	fn build_handler(client: Arc<RwLock<Client>>) -> IoHandler {
+		let mut handler = IoHandler::new();
+		let mut eth = IoDelegate::new(Arc::new(Eth::new(client)));
+		eth.add_method("eth_blockNumber", Eth::block_number);
+		handler.add_delegate(eth);
+		handler
+	}
+}
+
+pub struct HttpServer {
+	server: jsonrpc_http_server::Server
+}
+
+impl HttpServer {
+	pub fn new(client: Arc<RwLock<Client>>, threads: usize) -> HttpServer {
+		HttpServer {
+			server: jsonrpc_http_server::Server::new(EthRpc::build_handler(client), threads)
+		}
+	}
+
+	pub fn start_async(self, addr: &str) {
+		self.server.start_async(addr)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/bin/client/main.rs b/src/bin/client/main.rs
index 3335d8a72..bf1b82909 100644
--- a/src/bin/client/main.rs
+++ b/src/bin/client/main.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ extern crate rustc_serialize;
 extern crate log;
 extern crate env_logger;
 
+#[cfg(feature = "rpc")]
+mod ethrpc;
+
 use std::io::stdin;
 use std::env;
 use log::{LogLevelFilter};
@@ -26,10 +29,22 @@ fn setup_log() {
 	builder.init().unwrap();
 }
 
+
+#[cfg(feature = "rpc")]
+fn setup_rpc_server(client: Arc<RwLock<Client>>) {
+	let server = ethrpc::HttpServer::new(client, 1);
+	server.start_async("127.0.0.1:3030");
+}
+
+#[cfg(not(feature = "rpc"))]
+fn setup_rpc_server(_client: Arc<RwLock<Client>>) {
+}
+
 fn main() {
 	setup_log();
 	let spec = ethereum::new_frontier();
 	let mut service = ClientService::start(spec).unwrap();
+	setup_rpc_server(service.client());
 	let io_handler  = Box::new(ClientIoHandler { client: service.client(), timer: 0, info: Default::default() });
 	service.io().register_handler(io_handler).expect("Error registering IO handler");
 	loop {