When you shop online or in a brick and mortar store and need to check-out, you have options such as Paypal or Apple Pay or simply a credit or debit card to proceed. It is your wallet to purchase goods. In order to do any type of transaction on a blockchain, you also need a wallet. With a cryptocurrency wallet, you can purchase, trade, sell or transfer assets on a particular blockchain.
One of the most popular wallets you will hear about is MetaMask. MetaMask is interoperable with practically all Ethereum-based platforms, and can connect to more than 3,700 dApps and Web3 services. It can be used as a hot wallet (always connected to the Internet) or a cold wallet where you can connect hardware wallets to it such as Trezor or Ledger hardware wallets.
Think of the MetaMask wallet as your gateway to everything Ethereum. You can purchase Ethereum based coins like Apecoin, or jump into liquidity pools like $Primate-$APE via Sushiswap (link to benji bananas). You can connect MetaMask to platforms such Opensea or Lookrare to purchase non fungible tokens (NFT’s)
Metamask is available on the iOS and Android platform and can also be installed as a browser extension on popular browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Brave and Edge.
We are going to have a lot of fun with this column. We are going to show you how to connect to NFT platforms such as Opensea or add custom ERC-20 tokens to your wallet.
Shall we begin?
Let’s start by simply installing MetaMask as a browser extension. The easiest way is to browse to Metamask.io and click Download on one of the above supported browsers. For this example, I will browse to MetaMask on Edge, click download and Install.
It will open the Edge Add-Ons page. Simply click Get to install and Add Extension.
The extension is added to your browser.
Let’s continue by selecting the MetaMask extension and choosing Get Started.
Next, choose Create a Wallet. This will create our Hot Wallet that is always available and connected to the Internet.
Click I agree to continue and create an 8 character alphanumeric strong password.
Click Create and Next to display your Secret Recovery Phase.
I want to pause here for a few minutes and discuss how important this phrase is. It is similar to handing someone your debit card and then telling them your pin number. You would never do this. Someone can have your debit card, but without your pin number, they have no access. If someone has access to your Secret Recover Phase, they can import your wallet. Your password you just created means nothing.
NEVER and I mean NEVER hand this Secret Recover Phase out.
NEVER type it in any free claim email.
NEVER give it to a support person
NEVER store it online
NEVER EVER NEVER EVER USE IT UNLESS YOU are reinstalling Metamask and always make sure you are going to Metamask.io.
Once you understand the importance of protecting this Secret Recovery Phrase, click below to reveal.
Write them down in a secure place. For the purposes of this post, I will share. Never do this when creating a real wallet.
After you write down the phrase in a secure manner, click Next and enter the phrase as shown below.
Click Confirm and All Done. You now have created a MetaMask wallet.
Let’s go over the UI really quick so you understand what you are looking at. Click the MetaMask extension.
The MetaMask wallet appears and you can see your address where your funds will be stored.
If you click the 3 dots and Account Details, you can change the name of your wallet. I like to call it Hot. You can also see your QR code and address. This will be used when you want to send funds to your wallet. Think of it as an address.
You can also copy your address to clipboard to quickly grab the address when sending funds from an exchange such as Coinbase, Crypto.com or Binance.US.
Now that you have a basic understanding of the interface, we need to delete the entire extension and restore using your Secret Recovery Phrase as a test. I do not like to send any money to a wallet before doing this. There is nothing worse than trying to restore a wallet and failing. Always do the work and test before sending any funds. There is no FDIC insurance in crypto.
Do the work up front to protect yourself.
In order to test this restore process, just remove and re-install the extension as shown above. After clicking Get Started, choose Import wallet and not Create a Wallet.
Enter your Secure Secrete Phrase and a password and click Import and you are all done.
If you click on the Account details, you will see that your wallet has been restored successfully and you are now ready to send funds to this address from a crypto exchange.
NOTE: You can follow this same process for mobile so you have one account configured on mobile and desktop.
How do I Connect MetaMask to Opensea?
Now that you created your wallet, let’s connect it to Opensea. It could not be easier to do this. Simply browse to opensea.io and click Create. Next, choose MetaMask and click Next.
Click Connect and your wallet is now connected to Opensea.
Your wallet is now connected to Opensea and you can browse and purchase NFT’s if you have funds on your wallet.
TIP:
I highly recommend when not using Opensea or any sites, you disconnect from it as a best practice. It adds extra steps, but it can keep you safe from any Opensea exploits.
Simply, click the three dots| Connected Sites and disconnect Opensea.
This process is the same for connecting your Metamask wallet to any site. Just remember to disconnect when done. Please do not stay connected.