How to Swap Crypto in MEW, in 3 Steps or Less
If you are like many cryptocurrency users out there, you might have a crypto wallet, or even several, and you might be HODLing some Bitcoin and Ether/Litecoin/Ripple, but other than that, you’re not quite sure what to do with crypto. You’re probably not using it to buy coffee, pay rent, or contribute to your 401K. Might as well just leave it in that wallet, right?
Perhaps, as market activity intensifies and some of your crypto friends begin to move their funds around, you get some FOMO, but the barrier to participating is too high and you remain hesitant (which, by the way, is smart — caution is still your best friend in crypto).
Now, Ethereum is a pretty unique blockchain in that it actually offers a LOT to do with crypto besides just holding it or sending transactions. You can play games, collect unique digital objects, earn an annual percentage on your savings, get a loan in minutes, and invest in cool projects. Many of these things are actually quite easy to do, you DON’T have to risk a lot of money, and you can do them in one familiar place — your MEW.
Today, we’ll start out with just one thing you can try out, and that’s swapping currencies.
Did you realize that you can swap more than 150 ERC20 tokens and other coins right inside your MEW wallet, without having to figure out exchanges? Did you know that you can get from no crypto to owning a couple of different currencies in about 3 or 4 steps without ever leaving our interface? You can, and we are going to walk you through those steps, right here.
Step 1: Wallet
If you already have a wallet that you use with MEW, you’re all set, skip right ahead to Step 2!
If you don’t have an Ethereum wallet at all, it’s easy to create one with MEW. Just download our MEWconnect smartphone app, and then use it to securely connect with the web interface. We have great instruction guides and videos to help you.
We DON’T recommend creating wallets with software methods like keystore file or mnemonic phrase. If you access your wallet online using those methods, the chances are high that your funds will be stolen eventually. MEWconnect, on the other hand, keeps your keys stored in a secure location on the phone and never reveals them to the internet. Next to a hardware wallet, it’s the safest option.
Speaking of hardware wallets, they are quite user-friendly and reputable ones start at around $50. If you’re getting more serious about investing in crypto, a hardware wallet is your best option for large amounts of currencies. You can buy one right here.
You can read much, much more about wallet security on our MEWtopia blog and our Knowledge Base.
Step 2: ETH
If you have a new wallet, it’s empty, but you need to keep in mind that doing pretty much anything on the Ethereum blockchain requires Ether. Sending a transaction, swapping tokens, giving your wallet a name, playing a game or winning a collectible kitty — all activity on Ethereum is fueled by ETH. Any given transaction doesn’t cost a lot — maybe a few cents, or even a fraction of a cent — but if you have zero ETH, you might end up having zero fun. (You don’t need ETH to receive funds, so if you have someone who is willing to send you ETH to get you started, that works!)
You can buy ETH in MEW with a credit card via our partner Simplex. It only takes a few minutes. The minimum ETH purchase is $50, but that’s all the investment you need to make to play around with a lot of features and decentralized apps. When you are swapping, you can often get just a few dollars’ worth of a cryptocurrency. Exchange minimums can be very low, and crypto coins are almost infinitely divisible.
Step 3: Swap!
With ETH in your wallet, all you need to do is go to the Swap page in MEW and explore the options in the dropdown lists. Choose the currency you have on the left side (usually, this will be the ETH in your wallet) and the currency you are interested in on the right. It’s pretty intuitive, but we have some videos to help you anyway!
There are two categories of coins to swap for: ERC20 tokens based on the Ethereum blockchain, and currencies based on other blockchains. If you are swapping for ERC20 tokens, they can be sent to the same MEW wallet you are swapping from — just choose your own address from the dropdown under the ‘To Address’ field. If you’re swapping to a different blockchain asset like Bitcoin, you will need to put the address of a Bitcoin wallet that you have previously created elsewhere. MEW is an Ethereum wallet and can’t accept currencies from other blockchains.
Some of the popular tokens that are available for swap on MEW are
Basic Attention Token (BAT)
Binance USD (BUSD)
Multi-Collateral Dai (DAI)
EnjinCoin (ENJ)
Maker (MKR)
OmiseGo (OMG)
Chainlink (LINK)
Huobi (HT)
USD Coin (USDC)
TrueUSD (TUSD)
Augur (REP)
0x (ZRX), but the full list is МUCH longer — over 100 tokens!
Currencies based on other blockchains include
Bitcoin (BTC)
Cardano (ADA)
Dash (DASH)
Dogecoin (DOGE)
Ethereum Classic (ETC)
Litecoin (LTC)
Tron (TRX)
Tether USD (USDT)
Monero (XMR), and many others.
You can scroll through the dropdowns on the Swap page to explore the full list and see if anything catches your eye. Of course, do your research before investing in any token or currency: go beyond the price history and find out about the team, the roadmap, the long term goals of the project and at least some of the tech behind it. Before you know it, you’ll have insights that will have your crypto friends turning to YOU for advice.
And there you have it: Wallet, ETH, Swap! We hope that you’ll find the process easy and rewarding, and as always, we are here for you at support@myetherwallet.com.
Swappingly yours,
MEWteam
MyEtherWallet.com
MEWtopia
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