marodero

He succeeded in every trade he made.
Let's dive into his trades 👇

1/ I found this wallet while researching DEX market.
The owner of the wallet was selling a significant amount of another meme coin.
Intrigued, I couldn't resist diving deeper...
2/ Starting with just ~2,940 USDT.
He aped from one token to another.
I'll analyze his trades using @etherscan, @dexscreener, and @zerion.
Let's dive in!
3/ According to his strategy, he is a typical flipper.
But first, let's dive into his most successful deals.
• He bought: ~337,864 $MUBI at first (~$2,000)
• Total PNL: +$47,862.22
Made numerous trades on this pair, totaling ~$50k in profit.

4/ Next deals were equally successful.
• Bought: 60,532 $RSC
• Total PNL: +$8,986.89
He was also one of the early investors in the hyped $GEC.
Turned his $3.6K into ~$15K of profit on this deal.

5/ He managed to earn his first $10k by scalping another memecoin.
• started with only $2.5K trade on $KIZUNA
After a few trades on this pair, it resulted in a net profit of ~$7,560.

6/ Unsuccessful deals.
There have been over 20 REKT deals on his way.
• from ~0.50 to 1 $ETH each
These fast flip deals on low-cap memcoins led him to a 90% loss later.

7/ Therefore, my advice is to resist succumbing to FOMO.
Analyze before buying with a cool head.
His wallet address to check his profit history, DYOR:
0x5391b427bf607e4e11ca384d135231fc3050cadc

#Whale.Alert #WhaleAlert

He succeeded in every trade he made.
Let's dive into his trades 👇

1/ I found this wallet while researching DEX market.
The owner of the wallet was selling a significant amount of another meme coin.
Intrigued, I couldn't resist diving deeper...
2/ Starting with just ~2,940 USDT.
He aped from one token to another.
I'll analyze his trades using @etherscan, @dexscreener, and @zerion.
Let's dive in!
3/ According to his strategy, he is a typical flipper.
But first, let's dive into his most successful deals.
• He bought: ~337,864 $MUBI at first (~$2,000)
• Total PNL: +$47,862.22
Made numerous trades on this pair, totaling ~$50k in profit.

4/ Next deals were equally successful.
• Bought: 60,532 $RSC
• Total PNL: +$8,986.89
He was also one of the early investors in the hyped $GEC.
Turned his $3.6K into ~$15K of profit on this deal.

5/ He managed to earn his first $10k by scalping another memecoin.
• started with only $2.5K trade on $KIZUNA
After a few trades on this pair, it resulted in a net profit of ~$7,560.

6/ Unsuccessful deals.
There have been over 20 REKT deals on his way.
• from ~0.50 to 1 $ETH each
These fast flip deals on low-cap memcoins led him to a 90% loss later.

7/ Therefore, my advice is to resist succumbing to FOMO.
Analyze before buying with a cool head.
His wallet address to check his profit history, DYOR:
0x5391b427bf607e4e11ca384d135231fc3050cadc

#Whale.Alert #WhaleAlert

Why should I bother reading this?

If you’re interested in the Ethereum ecosystem, you need an application like MetaMask. Far more than a simple wallet, it allows you to interact with websites that integrate Ethereum. 

MetaMask will let you connect to decentralized applications from inside your browser (or through a mobile app). You can make trades without intermediaries and play games with fully-transparent code (so you know you aren’t being cheated).

Check out the guide below to get started!


Contents

Introduction

What is MetaMask?

Install MetaMask

Initialize the wallet

Back up your seed words!

Fund the wallet

Unlock the decentralized web

On MetaMask and privacy

Swapping ether for DAI

Where are my tokens?

What else should I know?

The MetaMask app

Closing thoughts


Introduction

With Ethereum came the promise of a distributed Internet – the long-awaited Web 3.0. A level playing field characterized by a lack of central points of failure, true ownership of data, and decentralized applications (or DApps).

Such an infrastructure is steadily coming together with an industry-wide focus on Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and interoperability protocols that aim to bridge the various blockchains. It’s now possible to trustlessly exchange tokens and cryptocurrencies, take out crypto-backed loans, and even use Bitcoin on Ethereum.

For many Ethereum enthusiasts, MetaMask is the go-to wallet. Unlike your regular smartphone or desktop software, it comes packaged as a browser extension, allowing users to directly interact with supporting webpages. In this article, we’ll explain how MetaMask works and walk you through getting started with it yourself.


What is MetaMask?

MetaMask is an open-source Ethereum wallet that supports all kinds of Ethereum-based tokens (such as those following the ERC-20 standard, or non-fungible tokens). On top of that, you can receive them from others, or purchase/swap them with the built-in Coinbase and ShapeShift integrations.

What makes MetaMask so interesting is that it can interface with websites. With other wallets, you’d need to copy-paste payment addresses or scan a QR code on a separate device. With the MetaMask extension, the website simply pings your wallet, and you’re prompted to accept or reject the transaction.

MetaMask can serve as a regular crypto wallet, but its real strength is in seamlessly interfacing with smart contracts and decentralized applications. Let’s now look at how to set it up.


Install MetaMask

The MetaMask wallet can be installed on Google Chrome, Firefox, or the Brave Browser. It’s also available on iOS and Android, but we won’t cover that in too much depth. We’re going to use Firefox throughout this tutorial, but your steps will be more or less identical, irrespective of the platform you’re using.

Head over to the official download page on metamask.io. Select your browser, which will take you to the Chrome web store or the Firefox add-ons site. Click on the button to add the extension to your platform. You may need to grant it some permissions before it’s up and running. Make sure you’re happy with the level of access it has to your browser – if you are, we’re good to go.


Initialize the wallet

You should now see a welcome message. 


If you’re anything like us, you’ll probably spend a good bit of time trying to make this guy dizzy with your cursor.


Once you’re done pestering the fox on the welcome page, click on Get Started. This is where you’ll be prompted to either import a seed phrase or create a new one. Click on Create a Wallet. The next page asks whether you want to submit anonymized data to help the devs improve the app. Pick whichever option you prefer.

Now we need to create a password. If you’re one of those legendary creatures that actually reads the user agreement for your software, you can view it by clicking on Terms of Use. Otherwise, come up with a strong password, tick the box, and hit Create.


Back up your seed words!

The following point is enough to warrant its own subheading. MetaMask is a non-custodial service, meaning that no one else can access your funds – not even the MetaMask developers. Your tokens exist in a sort of encrypted vault within your browser, protected by your password. That means that if your computer is lost, stolen, or destroyed, nobody can help you recover the wallet. Your private keys will be forever lost in the void of cyberspace.

So, it’s crucial that you write down your backup phrase. This is the only way you can restore your account should something unfortunate happen. As suggested, we recommend that you write the words down and store them in two or three different locations. You don’t need to bury them in a fireproof safe deep in the forest, but hey, it can’t hurt.


Click on the grey box to reveal the phrase.


When you get to the next page, the program anticipates that you may have been lazy with the previous step, because it asks you to confirm the phrase. If you didn’t the first time, click Back and write it down!

Confirm the phrase, then proceed to the next step. Hit All Done, and you’ll see the wallet interface.

The boring part’s over, let’s get rich on (testnet) ether next.


Fund the wallet

In this tutorial, we’re going to be using the Ropsten testnet. It’s a network that functions almost exactly like the real Ethereum network, but its units have no value. These come in handy when you’re developing contracts and want to make sure that they don’t have vulnerabilities that allow attackers to drain $50m in value. Every step we perform on this network today will be replicable on the real thing (except for the part where they gift us free ether, unfortunately).

To tune into the Ropsten testnet, click on Main Ethereum Network in the top right corner and select Ropsten Test Network.


There are lots of different testnets on Ethereum. If you’re wondering about the differences, check out this comparison.


We’re going to use a faucet to get some fake money to play with. Navigate to this page on your Metamask-enabled browser to get some.


Woohoo! Free money!


You can click on the little fox icon at any time to get a pop-up with your MetaMask account information (as we’ve done in the GIF above). Hover over Account 1, and click to copy your Ethereum address to the clipboard. Paste it into the form and hit Send me test Ether.

Ethereum transactions are generally confirmed pretty quickly, but it might be a while before the 1 ETH lands in your wallet. Check to see whether you’ve got it by clicking on the fox in your toolbar.

Once that’s arrived, we can start to interact with DApps.


Unlock the decentralized web

Since we’re on a testnet, we don’t have as big a selection of applications to play around with. For a comprehensive list of mainnet decentralized applications, check out State of the DApps or Dappradar. You can play games, buy one-of-a-kind assets, or place bets on prediction markets.

We’re going to use the DApp we demonstrated earlier. Uniswap is a decentralized exchange, or DEX, meaning that it allows us to place trades without relying on intermediaries. The mechanisms underpinning it are pretty neat – check out What Is Uniswap and How Does It Work? if you’re interested in how it works.

Go ahead and access it here. In the top right-hand corner, you should see a prompt to Connect to a wallet. You’ll see this in some form on all MetaMask-compatible sites, as it doesn’t automatically connect for security reasons. Click on it, and you’ll be asked to select which wallet you’re using. In case you haven’t been following, that wallet will be MetaMask.

When a site first attempts to connect, a MetaMask dialog will appear, asking you to confirm the action. You’ll be able to select an account (we only have one, for now, so leave that as is) before verifying what permissions you’re about to grant. In this case, as in many others, the site is requesting information on the wallet address your account controls.


On MetaMask and privacy

It’s important to be mindful of what you’re permitting. If a website knows your address, they can see all of the ether and token transactions to and from it. What’s more, they can correlate it with your IP address.

Some prefer to segregate their addresses to prevent any overlap, while others aren’t concerned with these risks (after all, the blockchain is public). The level of privacy you want to achieve ultimately depends on you. As a general rule, don’t grant access to websites you don’t trust.


Swapping ether for DAI

Time to make our first swap. We’ll be doing it for DAI, an ERC-20 token that serves as a stablecoin. Just like our ether, though, this DAI has no real-world value. Hit Select a token, add the Uniswap Default List, and then click on DAI. Alternatively, you could also pick WETH (wrapped ether).

All that’s left to do is to input the amount of ETH we want to swap. As we do that, we’ll get an estimate of how much DAI we’ll receive. And we’re good to go! Hit Swap.


Complete the swap with MetaMask.


You’re once again prompted to take action in MetaMask. In this case, you need to okay the transaction before it’s created. Make sure you’re happy with the fees when you’re doing this on the mainnet, as they can be significant.

After that, we just need to wait for the transaction to confirm!


➟ Looking to get started with cryptocurrency? Buy ETH on Binance!


Where are my tokens?

So your ether’s gone, but your account doesn’t show your tokens. No need to panic – you have to add them manually.

For more popular tokens, you can select Add Token in your wallet and search for the name or ticker. For the less popular ones (or those on the testnet), we need to add the contract address – an identifier that tells MetaMask where to look for our balance.


Open your wallet by clicking on the extension.

Click on the three dots in the top bar.

Select View on Etherscan.

Under Overview, click on the Token dropdown and select DAI.

Under Profile Summary, you should see a contract address. Hover over it and copy the address.

Return to MetaMask and click on Add Token.

Click on the Custom Token tab.

Paste what you’ve just copied into the Token Contract Address form.

The rest should autofill. Click on Next, followed by Add Tokens.

Return to the main overview to see your full balance.


Congrats! You’ve just interacted with your first DApp by trustlessly swapping ether for DAI. Everything you’ve learned can now be done in the real world. When you’re ready to play with mainnet applications, remember to switch back from Ropsten to the main network.


What else should I know?

MetaMask has some other neat features that we haven’t covered today. You can also connect a hardware wallet (Trezor and Ledger are both supported), create a contact list, and, of course, receive and send funds as you would in a normal wallet. Check out the settings to customize the extension to suit your needs.

Other than that, the usual security principles apply: MetaMask is a hot wallet, meaning that it runs on an internet-connected device. This exposes you to more risk than a cold wallet, which is kept offline to reduce attack vectors.

Lastly, when using MetaMask, it stands to reason that you should be conscious of what websites you’re granting access to.


The MetaMask app

The MetaMask Android/iPhone app provides a neat solution for interfacing with Web3 apps on the go. Boasting much of the same functionality as the extension, it integrates a DApp browser so you can access various decentralized applications at the touch of a button.


The MetaMask app’s browser.


The workflow of the application is very similar to that of the browser extension. You can make direct transfers of ether or tokens from your wallet, or even interact with Uniswap as we saw above. 


Connecting to PoolTogether via a prompt within the app.


Closing thoughts

MetaMask is a powerful tool for browsing the decentralized web. If you’ve followed along with the steps in this guide, then you’ve seen the wallet’s potential. Evidently, others have, too: it currently boasts over a million users.

As the Ethereum stack develops, applications like MetaMask will undoubtedly become integral components in the bridge between existing technologies and nascent cryptocurrency infrastructure.

Questions about MetaMask, Ethereum, or anything else? Head over to Ask Academy, where the community will answer them.


T

What is passive income?

Trading or investing in projects is one way to make money in the blockchain industry. However, that typically requires detailed research and a substantial investment of time – but it still won’t guarantee a reliable source of income. 

Even the best investors can experience prolonged periods of loss, and one of the ways to survive them is to have alternative sources of income.

There are other methods than trading or investing that can help you increase your cryptocurrency holdings. These can pay ongoing income similar to earning interest, but only require some effort to set up and little or no effort to maintain.

This way, you can have several streams of income that, in combination with each other, can add up to a significant amount.

This article will go through some of the ways that you can earn a passive income with crypto.


What are the ways you can earn passive income with crypto?

Mining

Mining essentially means using computing power to secure a network to receive a reward. Although it does not require you to have cryptocurrency holdings, it is the oldest method of earning passive income in the cryptocurrency space.

In the early days of Bitcoin, mining on an everyday Central Processing Unit (CPU) was a viable solution. As the network hash rate increased, most of the miners shifted to using more powerful Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). As the competition increased even more, it has almost exclusively become the playing field of Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) - electronics that use mining chips tailor-made for this specific purpose.

The ASIC industry is very competitive and dominated by corporations with significant resources available to deploy on research and development. By the time these chips arrive on the retail market, they are likely already outdated and would take a considerable amount of mining time to break-even.

As such, Bitcoin mining has mostly become a corporate business rather than a viable source of passive income for an average individual.

On the other hand, mining lower hash rate Proof of Work coins can still be a profitable venture for some. On these networks, using GPUs can still be viable. Mining lesser-known coins carries a higher potential reward, but comes with higher risk. The mined coins might become worthless overnight, carry little liquidity, experience a bug, or see themselves hindered by many other factors.

It is worth noting that setting up and maintaining mining equipment requires an initial investment and some technical expertise. 


Staking

Staking is essentially a less resource-intensive alternative to mining. It usually involves keeping funds in a suitable wallet and performing various network functions (such as validating transactions) to receive staking rewards. The stake (meaning the token holding) incentivizes the maintenance of the network’s security through ownership.

Staking networks use Proof of Stake as their consensus algorithm. Other versions of it exist, such as Delegated Proof of Stake or Leased Proof of Stake.

Typically, staking involves setting up a staking wallet and simply holding the coins. In some cases, the process involves adding or delegating funds to a staking pool. Some exchanges will do this for you. All you have to do is keep your tokens on the exchange and all the technical requirements will be taken care of.

Staking can be an excellent way to increase your cryptocurrency holdings with minimal effort. However, some staking projects employ tactics that artificially inflate the projected staking returns rate. It is essential to investigate token economics models as they can effectively mitigate promising staking reward projections. 

Binance Staking supports a wide variety of coins that will earn you staking rewards. Simply deposit the coins on Binance and follow the guide to get started.


Lending

Lending is a completely passive way to earn interest in your cryptocurrency holdings. There are many peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms that allow you to lock up your funds for a period of time to later collect interest payments. The interest rate can either be fixed (set by the platform) or set by you based on the current market rate.

Some exchanges with margin trading have this feature implemented natively on their platform.

This method is ideal for long-term holders who want to increase their holdings with little effort required. It is worth noting that locking funds in a smart contract always carries the risk of bugs.

Binance Earn offers a variety of options that let you earn interest in your holdings.

 

Running a Lightning node

The Lightning Network is a second-layer protocol that runs on top of a blockchain, such as Bitcoin. It is an off-chain micropayment network, which means that it can be used for fast transactions that aren’t immediately transferred to the underlying blockchain.

Typical transactions on the Bitcoin network are one-directional, meaning that if Alice sends a bitcoin to Bob, Bob cannot use the same payment channel to send that coin back to Alice. The Lightning Network, however, uses bidirectional channels that require the two participants to agree on the terms of the transaction beforehand.

Lightning nodes provide liquidity and increase the capacity of the Lightning Network by locking up bitcoin into payment channels. They then collect the fees of the payments running through their channels.

Running a Lightning node can be a challenge for a non-technical bitcoin holder, and the rewards heavily depend on the overall adoption of the Lightning Network.


Affiliate programs

Some crypto businesses will reward you for getting more users onto their platform. These include affiliate links, referrals, or some other discount offered to new users that are introduced to the platform by you.

If you have a larger social media following, affiliate programs can be an excellent way to earn some side income. However, to avoid spreading the word on low-quality projects, it is always worth doing some research on the services beforehand.

If you are interested in earning passive income with Binance, join the Binance Affiliate Program and get rewarded when you introduce the world to Binance!


Masternodes

In simple terms, a masternode is similar to a server but is one that runs in a decentralized network and has functionality that other nodes on the network do not.

Token projects tend to give out special privileges only to actors who have a high incentive in maintaining network stability. Masternodes typically require a sizable upfront investment and a considerable amount of technical expertise to set up.

For some masternodes, however, the requirement of token holding can be so high that it effectively makes the stake illiquid. Projects with masternodes also tend to inflate the projected return rates, so it is always essential to Do Your Own Research (DYOR) before investing in one.


Forks and airdrops

Taking advantage of a hard fork is a relatively straightforward tactic for investors. It merely requires holding the forked coins at the date of the hard fork (usually determined by block height). If there are two or more competing chains after the fork, the holder will have a token balance on each one.

Airdrops are similar to forks, in that they only require ownership of a wallet address at the time of the airdrop. Some exchanges will do airdrops for their users. Note that receiving an airdrop will never require the sharing of private keys - a condition that is a telltale sign of a scam.


Blockchain-based content creation platforms

The advent of distributed ledger technologies has enabled many new types of content platforms. These allow content creators to monetize their content in several unique ways and without the inclusion of intrusive ads.

In such a system, content creators maintain ownership of their creations and usually monetize attention in some way. This can require a lot of work initially but can provide a steady source of income once a more substantial backlog of content is ready. 


What are the risks of earning passive income with crypto?

Buying a low-quality asset: Artificially inflated or misleading return rates can lure investors into purchasing an asset that otherwise holds very little value. Some staking networks adopt a multi-token system where the rewards are paid in a second token, which creates constant sell pressure for the reward token.

User error: As the blockchain industry is still in its infancy, setting up and maintaining these sources of income requires technical expertise and an investigative mindset. For some holders, it might be best to wait until these services become more user-friendly, or only use ones that require minimal technical competence.

Lockup periods: Some lending or staking methods require you to lock up your funds for a set amount of time. This makes your holdings effectively illiquid for that time, leaving you vulnerable for any event that may negatively impact the price of your asset. 

Risk of bugs: Locking up your tokens in a staking wallet or a smart contract always carries the risk of bugs. Usually, there are multiple choices available with various degrees of quality. It is imperative to research these choices before committing to one. Open-source software might be a good starting point, as those options are at the very least audited by the community.


Closing thoughts

Ways to generate passive income in the blockchain industry are growing and gaining popularity. Blockchain businesses have also been adopting some of these methods, providing services commonly referred to as generalized mining.

As the products are getting more reliable and secure, they might soon become a valid option for a steady source of income.