Hey! What's up?
My name is Ajwritescrypto.
And welcome to BitLab Academy!
In this lesson, we're going to do a tutorial on MetaMask.
We're going to take a deep dive into how to fund your account,
how to swap and exchange networks,
and at the end, I'm going to show you how to use MetaMask to buy an NFT.
Before we jump into the demonstration,
I want to take a few minutes to explain what MetaMask is,
why people use it and why it's so popular today.
Not only is MetaMask a crypto wallet you can use to hold Ethereum
and other ERC-20 compatible tokens,
MetaMask is a gateway into the world of Web3, DeFi and NFTs.
First of all, in this day and age,
the last thing you want to do is leave your crypto on an exchange.
And that's one reason why wallets like MetaMask are so important.
Unless you're actively leverage trading on KuCoin or Bitget or something like that,
the safest place for your crypto to be is on a hot or cold wallet.
We've seen what the insolvencies have done to FTX and Celsius.
And unfortunately, the people that left their hard-earned crypto on those exchanges
got left holding the bag.
Don't let this happen to you.
If your crypto is on a wallet like MetaMask,
you won't lose a single penny if another exchange goes down.
Before we dive into the lesson,
understand that a Ledger is an example of a cold storage hardware wallet,
meaning that it's a physical device
and it's not connected to any servers once you put your crypto on it and unplug it.
MetaMask, on the other hand, is an example of a software hot wallet,
meaning that it's a program that lives on your computer
and it is connected to a server.
And in this case, it has to be connected onto a server
since it's your gateway to Web3.
The main thing you need to know here is that hardware wallets like Ledger
are best for long-term secure storage.
On the flip side, software wallets like MetaMask are convenient
for quickly buying, selling and swapping and transferring NFTs.
The main reason MetaMask is such a popular wallet is because
it easily connects to dApps and NFT marketplaces in the blink of an eye.
Keep in mind, it's imperative to diversify your portfolio
and not keep all your money in one place.
Eliminate a single point of failure and keep your long-term holds in cold storage.
All in all, MetaMask is one of the most popular wallets in all of crypto.
And it's trusted by over 30 million users worldwide.
Now, let's jump in and set up your MetaMask.
For starters, you can download MetaMask on your computer, your iPhone, your Android.
For the sake of this demonstration, we're going to use Google Chrome.
It will be downloaded as an extension in your browser.
Here we are at metamask.io.
We're going to click Download.
Install MetaMask for Chrome
Add to Chrome
Add extension
Get started
You can say I agree or No thanks.
It's up to you.
I'm going to go with No thanks.
So, right here, if you already have a Secret Recovery Phrase that MetaMask gives you,
you can import your wallet.
But in this demonstration, we're going to create a new wallet.
So click on Create a wallet.
So, right here, you make a password.
And make sure it's not a password you also use on social media or something.
Think of something unique for this.
Click Create.
So we're going to go to next.
So this is the part with the Secret Recovery Phrase.
Be sure to physically write your recovery phrase or seed phrase down
and never ever type it in your computer or phone.
I can't stress enough how important this is.
Because not even the team at MetaMask can help you recover your seed phrase
if you lose it.
This will be blurred out on the screen for the demonstration.
So you click here to reveal the words.
These words are very, very important.
Definitely number these when you write these down
and make sure you spell everything correctly
because I've heard some horror stories about people that can't get in
because they don't know what the word is.
Things happen.
Take your time.
And number the words and write them down.
Once you write down your 12-word recovery phrase,
make sure you go back over it and make sure the words are in order
and they're spelled correctly.
So, now, here on the computer, we wrote everything down.
The words are spelled correctly in order and numbered.
We're going to click Next.
So, now, you have to make sure the words are in order on MetaMask.
And you're going to click them to put them back in to the box
to confirm that your phrase is your phrase.
Once you have all the words put in in the correct order,
click Confirm.
Congratulations! We did it.
So, now, here we are in the MetaMask homepage.
Also, I like to go up here to the extensions
and click on the pin
so the MetaMask logo is right there.
So, now that we're here in MetaMask,
take a minute to familiarize yourself with everything.
If you want to link your MetaMask with your mobile phone,
click in the top right,
go to Settings, Advanced, and sync up with mobile.
If you want to see your recovery phrase,
if you need it for anything,
you're going to type in your password that we started with,
and, boom, there is your Secret Recovery Phrase.
So you can create another account,
you can import an account.
you can connect this to your Ledger or other hard wallet.
So as you can see here,
we only have an empty Ethereum wallet.
So say you wanted to add another token like MATIC to your wallet.
There's a couple of ways you could do this.
The first way you could do this is go to import tokens,
type in MATIC,
and click it right here,
and click Next.
Import tokens
So then we can go back,
and then we'll have Ethereum and MATIC.
Another way you could do this is, say, you go to coingecko.com.
So say you wanted to add Fantom.
First, you go to coingecko.com.
Type in FTM.
And right here, there's the MetaMask logo.
You can click that.
Add token.
And now when you go back to your MetaMask in the browser extension,
Fantom will be right there.
So there's multiple ways that you can add tokens.
So when you click this to add Fantom into your MetaMask,
this is putting the contract into your MetaMask.
So it recognizes that that's Fantom.
So someone once asked me,
"Can you hold Bitcoin on MetaMask?"
The answer to that question is no.
It's important to know that MetaMask is for Ethereum,
other ERC-20 and 721 tokens,
as well as coins created on networks
that are compatible with the Ethereum blockchain.
So if you want to add a different network or a different blockchain,
click on Networks,
go to Add network,
and say we want to add Binance,
and, boom, now, we will be on the Binance Smart Chain
and not the Ethereum one.
Also, BNB is cheaper to use than Ethereum for gas fees.
But when you're on the Binance Smart Chain, you'll have to pay gas with BNB and not Ethereum.
You go to MetaMask.
We go click Networks.
Add network.
BNB
Click Add.
Approve
Network successfully added.
Switch to BNB.
Got it.
And, now, we're on the Binance Smart Chain and not Ethereum right here.
So when you add another network, there are these available networks right here.
So to manually add a network, we're going to go down here.
Click Add a network manually.
And we'll tag this here into the description.
It's from 1inch.
And it has all the things that you need to copy and paste
into your MetaMask here to add that chain.
So let's say we wanted to add the Fantom network
instead of just the Fantom coin.
So we'll go to copy.
Paste
Copy
Paste
Copy
Paste
FTM
Copy
And then click Save.
And, now, we have switched to Fantom manually instead of just from the add network.
So, now, we're going to go back to Ethereum.
Okay. So we talked about how to add tokens here.
We talked about how to switch networks.
And keep in mind, when you switch networks,
this,
like, if you have two Ethereum in your Ethereum network,
that Ethereum won't be in your Binance network.
But you can bridge that.
And we'll get to that later in the tutorial.
So, now, we need to fund our MetaMask.
You could buy crypto straight off of here.
And also on your iPhone, you can use Apple Pay to do this as well.
For the sake of this demonstration,
I'm going to send some Ethereum from my Coinbase to MetaMask.
So let's do that real fast.
I'm going to copy this address.
We're on the Ethereum network.
We're going to come down here.
Click Ethereum.
Send & Receive
We're on Send.
Send all.
Paste in that address.
Make sure that the letters are correct.
Normally, I just check the first four and the last four to line them up.
Right click Continue.
And send now.
So while we're waiting for that Ethereum to send from my Coinbase to MetaMask,
let's go over a couple more things.
If you want to send crypto from your MetaMask,
just go here.
Click Send.
You're going to paste in the address.
Let's say I wanted to send it back to my Coinbase.
Click Receive.
I'll go to copy here.
I paste it into here.
And then I would choose the asset.
Click Next.
And that's basically it.
Say I wanted to swap Ethereum for another token.
Right here, I go to Swap.
I put the Ethereum in.
I select whatever token I want to swap with,
like ApeCoin.
I go to Review swap.
Click go and pay a gas fee,
and, boom, I swapped my Ethereum for ApeCoin.
So before I keep going, what is a gas fee?
Whenever you do transactions on the Ethereum network,
you have to pay a gas fee for the transaction.
It's an unfortunate reality,
but you've got to pay to play.
Gas fees are determined in a denomination known as gwei.
G-W-E-I
If you don't know, a gwei is one-billionth of an Ethereum.
When you do an Ethereum transaction,
like what you'll see when we buy an NFT at the end of this video,
you will see how much gas you are paying and how much money that will cost.
So take the gas fee into account whenever you're buying an NFT
or sending crypto from your MetaMask.
So we talked about how to do swaps here on MetaMask.
So say we want to go to a different network or a different blockchain.
How I like to do it is to go to 1inch.
So at the top of the 1inch page, click on Bridges.
And here, there's Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, BNB.
So let's use the BNB Chain bridge.
So go to Connect Wallet.
Click MetaMask.
Click Next.
Connect
Boom!
And just like that,
the MetaMask that we just made is already connected to this bridge.
So right here,
it says from the Ethereum Mainnet to the BNB Chain.
And we could go to Ethereum.
The Ethereum we have.
We could type in how much we want.
And from here, we could go to the BNB Chain,
the Polygon chain, Optimism, Fantom.
So say we want to go send 0.02 Ethereum to the BNB Chain.
And just like that,
click Transfer,
and just like that,
you went from the Ethereum network to Ethereum on the Binance network.
Switching networks is very important, especially when you get into DeFi.
Now, we've been over how to set up your MetaMask,
fund your account,
swap tokens,
change networks,
but what about how to buy an NFT?
So we go to opensea.io.
And right away, it gives us a prompt
to connect our MetaMask wallet that we just created.
We're going to click Next.
Click Connect.
Accept and sign.
And, boom, just like that, the MetaMask wallet we just created
is already hooked up and ready to go on OpenSea.
This is why MetaMask is used by so many people.
Because it hooks up to any marketplace or dApp in the blink of an eye.
So now that our MetaMask is connected to our OpenSea,
I want one of the new Pluto Alliances.
This fella here looks like he has some character.
Look at that gun.
Look at that gun!
Love it!
I'm going to click Add to cart.
He's in the cart.
Just like shopping on eBay.
We're going to click crypto.
Complete purchase.
And so right here, like I talked about earlier,
here's the estimated gas fee.
And this is the amount plus the gas fee.
So $30 all together.
Click Confirm.
Approve purchase
Your purchase is complete.
Just like that, we bought a new Pluto Alliance.
Go to View purchase.
So, now, here's our new--
our new account on OpenSea.
We got this guy ready to go.
So just like that, we purchased this new Pluto Alliance.
And here, we're in the MetaMask Chrome extension,
but be sure to click on Portfolio site right here,
and then you can go to NFTs,
and, boom, just like that,
here's our new NFT that we just purchased on OpenSea in our MetaMask.
In this lesson, we got you set up on MetaMask,
how to fund your account, how to swap tokens,
how to send tokens, how to switch networks,
and how to buy an NFT.
So, now, you're ready to enter the world of Web3.
There's so much to learn. There's so many people to meet.
And by learning how to do this stuff, you are leveling up your crypto game.
There is so much more to crypto than just holding crypto on a Coinbase or a Binance.
You want to get involved.
And to get involved, you need to get into DeFi.
You need to get some NFTs and join some Discord and meet new people.
This is what it's all about.
Thank you for tuning into this lesson.
Make sure you go back over it if there's anything you've missed,
or if there's any questions, please leave them in the comments.
My name is Ajwritescrypto.
And we'll see you in the next lesson.