diff --git a/cmd/harmony/main.go b/cmd/harmony/main.go
index 5739688f7..cc66f7988 100644
--- a/cmd/harmony/main.go
+++ b/cmd/harmony/main.go
@@ -117,8 +117,8 @@ func initSetup() {
 	}
 
 	// Logging setup
-	utils.SetPortAndIP(*port, *ip)
-	utils.SetVerbosity(log.Lvl(*verbosity))
+	utils.SetLogContext(*port, *ip)
+	utils.SetLogVerbosity(log.Lvl(*verbosity))
 
 	// Set default keystore Dir
 	hmykey.DefaultKeyStoreDir = *keystoreDir
diff --git a/internal/hmyapi/backend.go b/internal/hmyapi/backend.go
index 8a766c0f7..0df6594c4 100644
--- a/internal/hmyapi/backend.go
+++ b/internal/hmyapi/backend.go
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@ func GetAPIs(b *core.HmyAPIBackend) []rpc.API {
 			Version:   "1.0",
 			Service:   NewPublicAccountAPI(b.AccountManager()),
 			Public:    true,
+		}, {
+			Namespace: "hmy",
+			Version:   "1.0",
+			Service:   NewDebugAPI(b),
+			Public:    true, // FIXME: change to false once IPC implemented
 		},
 	}
 }
diff --git a/internal/hmyapi/debug.go b/internal/hmyapi/debug.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ed7e2c3e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/hmyapi/debug.go
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package hmyapi
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/log"
+	"github.com/harmony-one/harmony/core"
+	"github.com/harmony-one/harmony/internal/utils"
+)
+
+// DebugAPI Internal JSON RPC for debugging purpose
+type DebugAPI struct {
+	b *core.HmyAPIBackend
+}
+
+// NewDebugAPI Creates a new DebugAPI instance
+func NewDebugAPI(b *core.HmyAPIBackend) *DebugAPI {
+	return &DebugAPI{b}
+}
+
+// SetLogVerbosity Sets log verbosity on runtime
+// Example usage:
+//  curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"method":"debug_setLogVerbosity","params":[0],"id":1}' http://localhost:9123
+func (*DebugAPI) SetLogVerbosity(ctx context.Context, level int) (map[string]interface{}, error) {
+	if level < int(log.LvlCrit) || level > int(log.LvlTrace) {
+		return nil, errors.New("invalid log level")
+	}
+
+	verbosity := log.Lvl(level)
+	utils.SetLogVerbosity(verbosity)
+	return map[string]interface{}{"verbosity": verbosity.String()}, nil
+}