Alright so you have heard about SmartBCH and now you want to try it out. At the moment there are only 2 ways to get some SmartBCH; a kind person gives/sells you some or you buy some on CoinFLEX.
Where to begin?
At the moment there is a major issue with the coinFLEX exchange and they have frozen withdrawals and are currently holding smartBCH funds hostage.
DO NOT USE COINFLEX
You will need a couple things first.
- You will need the “MetaMask” plugin for your browser.
First lets download the MetaMask plugin
Metamask supports the Brave, Firefox, Chrome, and Edge browsers and the install and set up should be basically the same for across all four.
Once installed you will see this cute orange fox icon in the taskbar of your browser. If you do not see it you may need to expand the icons or choose what icons are displayed in the settings of your browser.
Next, please do not worry about hurting her and go ahead and gently click on her face.
Clicking on the icon will open the plugin and start you on the setup process.
You should now see the plugin open and a button to help you get started labeled, well, “Get Started”. So lets get started!
If you have used Metamask before with Ethereum then this is old news for you. You could import another wallet and add SmartBCH to it. But it is probably best if you start fresh. Go ahead and click on “Create a Wallet”
Now it is time to choose a password. If someone gains access to your computer they will not be able to access your coins…. unless they can guess this password. Make it strong enough that no one can guess it or use a password manager.
After you have chosen a password, MetaMask will prompt you to watch a video about your “Seed Phrase” (sometimes called a “secret phrase” or “recovery phrase” or similar). If you are totally new to crypto and do not know what a seed phrase is, first of all, welcome to the jungle, second a seed is basically the password to your piece of the blockchain. With just these words you can back up your entire wallet and all the money and tokens with it. It is incredibly important to keep these words safe. If you lose your PC or your HDD dies you can restore everything with just these words. So keep them safe. NOT on your PC. Write them on paper and keep them safe somewhere. You should also consider getting a hardware wallet to keep your seed words safe. Please take the time to watch the video. It is SUPER important.
After you watch the video you will be given the chance to see your seed we strongly recommend you DO NOT click “remind me later”. Do your backup now before you forget. That is of course you like losing all your money.
Now you have MetaMask all installed and ready to go…. for Ethereum. Well, SmartBCH is an Ethereum Virtual Machine after all. So we need to do 1 more thing to prepare. We need to tell MetaMask we are not using the ETH main chain. We are using a NEW chain.
Assuming you have logged in with your password, go ahead and click on the “Ethereum Mainnet” on the top right.
We need MetaMask to be pointed at the new SmartBCH. To do that we need to select “Custom RPC” at the bottom. (this demo wallet already has SmartBCH configured so you won’t see that as an option until the next step).
Enter the following info in the correct boxes:
Network name
SmartBCH
RPC URL
https://smartbch.greyh.at
OR
https://smartbch.fountainhead.cash/mainnet
Chain ID
10000
Currency Symbol
BCH
Block Explorer URL
https://www.smartscan.cash/
Then Click Save!
You are now ready to get some Smart BCH!
Now that you are all set up you will see your SmartBCH address here. In the case of the Build.Cash wallet it is:
0x0b9740309380Fd6dF7045F794AC5d36D32CcbF44
You may notice that does not look like a normal BCH address you typically see, for example:
qzckpuqaku2qlrk2euqj6jwgtv87h02a0c0sasf5js
Or even a legacy Bitcoin address like:
1HAtjKd4x7kVvgCXHvx8WZhmHSey2XgKsK
That is of course because these are essentially Ethereum style addresses. Have no fear, they copy and paste and make nice QR codes and basically function the same as addresses you are used to.
One big difference worth noting is that with BCH people tend to use a new receiving address every time they make a transaction and wallets tend to do that automatically. In BCH the reuse of addresses is discouraged for privacy sake. ETH was not designed that way and your new SmartBCH address will be the same. Your one address will hold all of your SmartBCH and all your new tokens and people will be able to see what your wallet holds on an explorer. So be careful where you post your address if that concerns you. To get a new SmartBCH address you will have to make a new wallet/account and do the backup seed phrase step all over again.
Alright now that you have a wallet. You need to put something in it!
Hop.cash is the easiest but there is also CoinFLEX .
You need to make an account (standard stuff) with CoinFLEX but it does not require KYC. Only an email address for now. In a recent interview the CEO hinted at even removing the email requirement. Anyway, once you sign up go to your deposit page and select BCH. It will show you a QR code and an address. Use either to send however much BCH you want to move onto the SmartBCH sidechain. Once that is done we are ready to swap it for SmartBCH.
Now go to “withdraw” in your account. You do not need to buy or sell or “trade” anything. Once you are in the withdraw part you can click on “SEP20“. SEP20 is a fancy name for “SmartBCH”. Then all you have to do is enter in your new SmartBCH address in the box (the number starts with a “0” not a “q” remember!), enter the amount and hit submit. In no time you will have SmartBCH in MetaMask and be ready to try out all the new exciting things being developed on SmartBCH!
Full disclosure: The CoinFLEX link on this site is a referral link which may generate some funding for this site. Any and all funds will be used to pay for the expenses of this site. This site operates on donations and referral link income. There are no paid advertisements or paid product promotions of any kind. Thank you for your understanding.