The best part of cryptocurrency is that you – and only you can be in complete control of your funds.
Not a bank, not a cryptocurrency exchange, no intermediaries. Only you.
But many do not take advantage of what crypto was built for – they leave their funds on an exchange. The exchange gets compromised. They lose all their money.
This, unfortunately, has happened quite a few times during the last couple of years.
But, there is a remedy to this “problem”.
In this post, I will show you have to install a wallet called Metamask.
Metamask is a layer between you and the blockchain. As long as you have the keys to your wallet – you are in 100% control.
This article is a step-by-step guide that is perfect for beginners to get started in cryptocurrency.
Table of Contents
How to Install a Wallet - Metamask
Step 1. Open up Google Chrome and click on the 3 dots in the upper right hand corner – as shown in the image below.
Step 2. Navigate down to More tools and click on Extensions and a new window will open in Google Chrome.
Step 3. Click on Extensions in the upper left-hand corner (the hamburger menu)
Step 4. Now, in the bottom left-hand corner, click on Open Chrome Web Store.
Step 5. In the search menu, type Metamask and click on the first result as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 6. You will now see a couple of results. Click on the first one – marked in green in the image below.
Step 7. Click on the blue button titled Add to Chrome.
Step 8. In this step, a pop-up will show – click on the blue button Add extension.
Step 9. Now we are pretty much ready to get going – click on the button Get Started.
Step 10. In this step, we have 2 options. Import wallet or Create a wallet. Since we are starting from scratch we will chose to Create a wallet.
Step 11. Here you are served with some standard information about the app. Click on I Agree in this step.
Step 12. Now, let us set the password for our wallet. After you have typed in your password in both fields – click Create.
Step 13. After you have created a password and clicked next you will have the option to view a video or go directly to the next step. Watch the video or click Next.
Step 14. This is quite literally the key to your crypto. Click on the gray area in the image below to reveal your 8-word seed phrase.
Step 15. Pictured below you can see that I have marked out the 8-word seed phrase. You need to store your seed phrase somewhere smart (and make backups). If you ever lose this seed phrase or share it with someone – they can access all your funds. Click Next when you have made a backup/stored your Secret Phrase.
Step 16. Now we are pretty much set. Click on All Done.
Step 17. That is it. You are up and running with a crypto wallet. Assuming everything has gone smoothly you should now see your account in Metamask as I do in the image below.
Step 18. You may also want to pin Metamask as a bookmark in Google Chrome – making it easier to access. To do that – click on the puzzle icon in the top right-hand corner, then click on the pin. Done.
Being The Bank of Your Own Funds
Now that we have our wallet ready – we need to use it.
There are many ways to fund your wallet. For the sake of clarity and to make this as easy as possible, I will use the Binance exchange. If you are not familiar with Binance, I have written an in-depth review here; Binance Review.
First of all – we need to have money on the exchange. If you have not bought crypto before, see this walk-through; How to buy cryptocurrency.
Step 1. In the upper right-hand corner on Binance, hover your mouse cursor over Wallet and click on Fiat and Spot.
Step 2. In my case, I will choose to withdraw USDT from Binance to my new wallet in Metamask. Click on Withdraw.
Step 3. Now, before we do anything else. Let’s go back to Metmask wallet in Chrome. Click on the address as pictured below in the green square. Once you click it, you automatically copy it.
Step 4. Back at Binance, you now need to paste (Ctrl+V on PC | Command+V on Mac) the address we copied in step 3 into the address field shown in the screenshot below.
Step 5. In this step we need to choose the network. I am assuming you have followed this guide step by step so we have to choose ETH as shown in green in the image below.
Step 5. All you need to do now is to click on Withdraw and the funds will be available in your Metamask in a matter of minutes depending on how congested the network is.
Summary
Getting started in cryptocurrency is not that hard. What we have accomplished in this tutorial is ultimately taking control of our money.
We have set up a digital wallet and transferred funds from a cryptocurrency exchange to our own wallet.
Your keys. Your coins.
It does not matter if anything happens to exchange, or whatever place you had your funds before transferring it to your Metamask wallet.
You are now your own bank. You have 100% control over your money.
