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MetaMask is a wallet exclusive to the Ethereum blockchain.
Dive deep to know MetaMask inside-out.
You dont go shopping without your wallet, do you?
Similarly, youll need a crypto wallet to transact with a blockchain.
A wallet is your personal key to interact with the cryptographic world.
It powers you to buy, sell or transfer assets on the blockchain.
And MetaMask is a wallet for the most diverse blockchain in existenceEthereum.
Its available as an app for iOS and Android.
Its a lot to take in at once.
So, well go easy, step-by-step.
What is MetaMask?
Blockchain offers privacy, transparency, and immutability.
But there are various blockchains, each one coded for a different purpose.
However, Ethereum, a gigantic decentralized ecosystem, is for the masses.
And MetaMask is a free, open-source, hot wallet to get you rolling with Ethereum.
Hot wallets are free and can be used from any internet-connected machine.
This also brings in the single most vulnerability of such walletssecurity.
You dont even need an email address.
Just set up a password and remember (and store) the secret recovery phrase, and youre done.
Your information is encrypted in your internet tool that nobody has access to.
Notably, its essential to keep the seed phrase safe, as even MetaMask has no information about it.
Once lost, it cant be retrieved.
If youre wondering, no, you cant buy Bitcoin with MetaMask.
It only supports Ether and other Ether-related tokens, including the famous ERC-20 tokens.
Cryptocurrencies (excluding Ether) on Ethereum are built as ERC-20 tokens.
MetaMask stores your information locally.
As of August 2021, MetaMask was home to10 million monthly active usersaround the world.
Its simple and intuitive user interface keeps pushing these numbers with a recorded 1800% increase from July 2020.
Conclusively, try MetaMask if hot wallets are your pick.
Lets begin with the installation before moving to its use cases.
Further sections entail the illustration for Chrome web web app and Android mobile platform.
It will auto-detect the surfing app.
Ill demonstrate this with the Chrome internet tool.
Visit the download page and ClickInstall MetaMask for Chrometo visit the MetaMask extension page on the Chrome web store.
Install and pin that to make it available in your web app toolbar.
This process is similar to installing any web app extension on Chrome.
Finally, you will be greeted with this.
Now clickGet Startedto begin the registration process.
The subsequent screen will give you the option toImport Wallet,or you canCreate a Wallet.
smack the latter option to register a new one.
Next, you might choose to share some anonymous data with MetaMask to jump on to the following screen.
you’re able to clickNo Thanksfor complete peace of mindit wont hamper your user experience with MetaMask.
Select accordingly and proceed.
Now Create a strong password on the following screen.
Better watch it and clickNext.
Now its time to save the secret recovery phrase.
you’re able to uncover the secret phrase and download it as a text file.
MetaMask goes to lengths to ensure you remember this important phrase as they dont store it for you.
So you see a word puzzle to rebuild that phrase, exactly the way it was.
That will take you to the previous page to download and memorize it.
Once you complete this, the Confirm button will come to life.
Click that, and you will see the congratulations message on the last screen of the registration process.
Finally, click theAll Doneon the congratulations page to enter into your wallet dashboard.
All you have to do isdownload MetaMask from the play storeand begin the registration process.
Note: This feature has been temporarily disabled.
To get the QR code, smack the MetaMask extension, and then click your avatar.
Next, select theSettingsoption from the pop-up.
Now clickAdvancedin the tweaks, and finally, selectSync with mobile.
And you will get this message of MetaMask disabling this feature.
In addition, you cant screenshot (or screen record) inside the MetaMask Android utility.
You would get a black screen even if you succeeded somehow.
(PS: Thats why the mobile screenshots are not clear.)
This could be a nifty security feature to save the users from any phishing applications.
Good work, MetaMask!
So were left with importing the wallet with the 12-word secret recovery phrase.
Enter that along with the new password, and clickIMPORTat the bottom.
Notably, the password entered here can be different from that used in the online window extension.
But thatll add to your pains to remember each one of them separately.
It further proves that MetaMask is a non-custodial wallet.
That everything is stored on your local deviceno cloud storage and syncing.
Afterward, youll see the congratulations screen.
And finally, it’s possible for you to have your MetaMask mobile user dashboard.
Using MetaMask
Now that youve MetaMask with youlets explore this a bit.
So you got your wallet on one of the mightiest of blockchains.
Congrats on that, but whats the proof?
You are not trusting some animations in an utility, are you?
So, lets verify your ethereum existence with Etherscana tool that can help you track ethereum related events.
Or, you might simply check all of that from inside your MetaMask wallet.
Click your MetaMask icon in your internet tool and go for the three vertical dots.
Finally, click theView Account on Etherscanto know the details.
Youll get something like this:
Since the wallet is brand new, there is no transaction history.
In short, consider this analogous to your bank passbookshowing all the debit and credit history.
This option is sitting below theView Account on Etherscan.
Expand Viewwill open your wallet in a new tab, keeping it open until you close it.
Its a relief from the pop-up which closes whenever you switch tabs or minimize your web client.
These terms get thrown around a lot.
In brief, the public key is for receiving funds.
But youll be needing yourprivate keyif you want to access those.
A private key is your proof that the funds in a wallet are actually yours.
Its also needed in every transaction you make.
In MetaMask, you could get your public key right from your user dashboard.
Just hover over the account name, and aCopy to clipboardwill appear.
Now click to copy your public key.
My test account has this public key:
0xAc9c3F6CC307832af263409E758a0dabeBA5F502
A private key is, lets sayan extremely private affair.
Never share your private key with anyone.
If you do, your account is theres.
To export your private key, nudge the three vertical dots to enter into yourAccount Details.
SelectExport Private Keyon the next screen.
slide in your password and clickConfirmto reveal your private key.
I have censored my private key just to emphasize its secrecy.
Keeping it online will only add to the security risks of an already vulnerable hot wallet.
it’s possible for you to add multiple accounts to your MetaMask wallet.
The purpose can be separate use cases for each.
For instance, one can have an NFT account and a business account individually on MetaMask.
Notably, each account will have its own pair of public-private keys.
But your secret recovery phase is the master key to all of your accounts.
To create an additional count, click your avatar in the MetaMask pop-up.
Next, go for the+Create account.
Name it, and youll see that under your first account.
Interestingly, you cant remove an account that is created inside the MetaMask account.
Although, you are free to remove an imported account.
Similarly, there is no way to delete a wallet built on ethereum (or any blockchain).
you might simply stop using it.
Then there are primary operationsBuy, Send & Swapthat you might do with your MetaMask wallet.
There are two payment gateways-WyreandTransak.
Wyresupports credit/debit cards along with Apple pay.
While the card and Apple pay transact instantly, ACH transfers can take up to a week to realize.
Moreover, you pay a data pipe fee as an incentive to miners to carry out your transactions.
Check out these two instances of buying USD 100 and USD 1000 from Wyre.
While the transaction fee is obviously proportionate to the transaction amount, the web connection fee is calculated differently.
It depends on the data size rather than the transaction amount.
To learn more about it and mining in general, head over to our guide aboutcryptocurrency mining.
Transakis similar to Wyre.
Depending on your currency and availability, you could use both.
You need the public key of the receiver to use this function.
For sending, click theSendon the user dashboard and enter the public key of the recipient.
Afterward, you’ve got the option to enter the amount to send and clickNext.
Subsequently, you might adjust theEstimated gas fee(miners tip) to prioritize your transaction.
Transactions with extremely low miner tips are likely to get delayed or fail depending on the online grid conditions.
But its best to leave this untouched, especially if youre new to this.
After the transaction gets verified, youll see the history under the activity area.
Assets on the test networks arent worth a penny.
These test networks are used for developer testing before launching their products on the Main Ethereum connection.
you might check this transaction on Etherscan as well.
MetaMask lets you swap Ether and ERC-20 tokens with each other.
This wallet searches all the available exchanges and presents you with the best quotation.
MetaMask charges a fee ranging from 0.3% to 0.875% on swaps.
The quotes you get are inclusive of this fee.
This function will import an account and not the entire wallet.
And since the wallet is not native to MetaMask, youll need to import it for every instance separately.
Finally, youll see an imported account sitting under your native account.
Interestingly, this operation didnt delete the account from its first wallet.
These apps are developed on the blockchain (ethereum in this case).
MetaMask is a way to interact and use these apps.
For instance,Mintableis a dApp for creating NFTs.
After signing up, you’re gonna wanna connect a wallet to start registering your NFT.
Take a look:
Its pretty similar to Google or Facebook authentication you might have used.
Regardless, its capabilities depend on the dApp you use as well.
Security Tips
While there are various use cases of MetaMask, using it securely is vital.
Being a hot wallet, its not the most reliable way to store ethereum assets.
Nevertheless, there are some pointers to keep your wallet integrity intact.
Lets check them out:
Admittedly, this list is by no means complete.
So keep abreast of the best practices to store your assets safely.
Conclusion
This covers a glimpse of what MetaMask can do.
Finally, anyone considering a hot Ethereum wallet should definitely give MetaMask a chance.
