🦊Metamask

Your guide to Metamask

What is Metamask?

Metamask can be used as a decentralized non-custodial wallet and can interact with blockchain-based applications directly. This is one of the most common tools people use to interact and take part in decentralized finance(DeFi).

Is Metamask safe?

MetaMask generates passwords and keys on your device, so only you have access to your accounts and data. Metamask is non-custodial and never as access to or holds your crypto, instead, it's using smart contracts and only the owner with the key and password can authorize transactions. This makes Metamask quite safe to use so long as you protect your key and secret safely and never share it.

How to get Metamask

Metamask is available on the App stores and can also be installed as a browser plugin for desktop use. For now we recommend using UpBots with Metamask and using the browser plugin version for the browser of your choice, Chrome and Brave browser work well with Metamask. You can download Metamask here. Just follow the steps to install Metamask and create a decentralized wallet.

Once setup you can send coins to your Metamask wallet address and begin interacting with DeFi applications directly on the blockchain of your choice.

By default Metamask is using the Ethereum blockchain. Generally most tokens on the Ethereum network are using ERC20 format. ERC20 just means the token is compatible only for the Ethereum blokchain and should only be sent to other Ethereum blockchain wallet addresses.

If you want to send tokens to another blockchain, for example, Binance Smart Chain(BSC), then a Bridge will be required to move the tokens from the ERC20 format Ethereum uses to the format BSC uses which is BEP20.

Blockchain Networks and Metamask

Metamask can support different block-chain networks(Ethereum by default).

If you wish to use other networks with Metamask, currently, you will need to add them manually. It is common practice to add Binance Smart Chain network to Metamask as the gas fees on BSC are much lower then on Ethereum and this reduces the barrier to entry for many people. Other networks besides Ethereum and BSC may be supported but we will only cover BSC here as this is most relevant to UpBots because UBXN can be Bridged between Ethereum and BSC networks.

How to add Binance Smart Chain network (BSC) to Metamask

Adding BSC to Metamask is a simple process, follow the steps bellow to see how or watch the short video clip.

step 1

Step 2

Fill in the required info for BSC network then click save.

Step 3

Once you have added the BSC network successfully you can then select this option from the networks drop down menu and begin interacting with the BSC network.

Your BSC wallet address will be the same as your ETH wallet address. If you send BEP20 coins to this address you will need to change to the BSC network to view them. If you send ERC20 tokens to this address you will need to be on the Ethereum network to see them. You may also need to add tokens manually to see them(see below).

How to add UBXN and other coins in Metamask.

Sometimes tokens don't show in Metamask by default, but it is easy to add them. To do this you will need to add the token using the token smart contract address.

Usually the best place to find a token address is on the official website for the token or from CoinGecko. He are short video clips and a written guide for safely finding contract addresses and adding coins to Metamask.

If using CoinGecko simply navigate to the site, search for the coin you wish to add then click add to Metamask and that's it!

For UBXN our Ethereum and BSC contracts addresses are:

ERC20: 0x8564653879a18c560e7c0ea0e084c516c62f5653

BEP20: 0xbbeb90cfb6fafa1f69aa130b7341089abeef5811

How does Gas work?

Every blockchain is has validators aka miners, these are responsible for making sure when transactions get completed and stored on a blockchain correctly and quickly. Validators use powerful commuters to do this and they have running costs. These costs are recovered using Gas which are transaction fees charged each time a transaction is sent.

When using Ethereum you will need ETH to pay for gas or transaction fees so it is always a good idea to have some ETH to over this. Ethereum is an older blockchain that is heavily used but has become so congested it has caused high gas costs. Ethereum are in the process of scaling and updating and we all hope the gas fees will be lower soon.

When using Binance smart chain (BSC) you will need BNB for transaction fees and it is always good to keep some available. BSC has much lower transaction costs due to it being a newer and also semi-decentralized blockchain(CiFi).

Bridging

If you have your tokens on ETH and wish to move them to BSC you can't just send them directly from one chain to the other you need to use a Bridge. The Bridge will convert the token format between ERC20 and BEP20.

You can send both BEP20 or ERC20 UBXN to your Metamask address and use the switch network option to see the tokens in your wallet address on each blockchain network. Note the wallet address is the same for both networks but these are actually two wallets with the same address on two different networks.

If you wish to move coins between ERC20 and BSC blockchains you can use the Bridge feature in the platform to do this. Look here for more on that.

Moving funds to Metamask

Most if not all centralized exchanges e.g. Binance, FTX, KuCoin etc are using ERC20 format to withdraw unless otherwise specified. It's always important to make sure you are sending tokens between compatible wallet addresses. Some centralized exchanges such as Binance will allow you to withdraw directly to a BSC network wallet address if you select this option when withdrawing.

If you send UBXN from a centralized exchange to Metamask by default it will show on the Ethereum network side of your wallet and you will need a to use the Bridge to transfer it over to the BSC side of your wallet if that's your goal.

Searching Ethereum and BSC blockchains

All transactions on the blockchain are visible and It's possible to search any contract address on Ethereum and BSC blockchains using Etherscan and BSCscan. You can search your Metamask wallet on both of these websites to see specific information like transfers and token holdings and historical data for each wallet address or smart contract on the blockchain.

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