Month: May 2021

The mistake

You sent money from Binance to another wallet, but chose the wrong network.

There are many options when transferring money around wallets and it’s quite tempting to choose the cheapest option, but that isn’t always right.  This example is where someone sent some USDT from their Binance wallet to what they thought was their USDT Wallet using the Blockchain app.  The user sent the money using Binance Smart Chain (BSC), but Blockchain.com do not support BSC.

LUCKILY, the Blockchain app allows you to view your private keys and even more luckily BSC is just a copy of ETH, so those private keys can be imported into a wallet that does support BSC.

Step 1 : Confirm you can actually recover from your mistake.

This is a lot of messing around, so make sure that you meet the recovery criteria before messing around.

You MUST meet both these conditions:

1. You sent from Binance using BEP20 (BSC) to a ERC20 wallet.
2. You have access to the private keys of the destination wallet (if not you might be able to raise a support request with your wallet provider).

Step 2 : Find your private key for your destination wallet

Warning: Never give your private keys to anyone.  Do not email them.  Do not store them unencrypted on the internet.

Examples of wallets where you can get to your private keys.

Blockchain Wallet (from Blockchain.com or the Blockchain app)

Step 3 : Install Metamask wallet

You can install this as a browser plug-in or Mobile app for Apple or Android

Go through the set-up procedure, secure your recovery key and maybe view the tutorial.  Note that the recovery key is only for the new wallet that Metamask creates for you when you install the app.

Step 4 : Import your private key into Metamask wallet

When viewing your wallet, click/press the circle above “Account 1” that looks like it could be a profile picture.  Choose “Import an Account” and paste your private key from Step 2 into it and then click “IMPORT”.

Step 5 : Add Binance Smart Chain network to Metamask wallet

Press/click the menu button on the top left, press Settings, scroll down and pick “Networks”, choose “Add Network” and enter the following:

Network Name: Binance Smart Chain
New RPC URL: https://bsc-dataseed.binance.org/
ChainID: 56
Symbol: BNB
Block Explorer URL: https://bscscan.com

Then click Add.

Note: To switch between Ethereum Network and Binance Smart Chain – just click the top of the app, where it says “Wallet”, you might need to scroll down to see the Binance Smart Chain.

Step 6 : Make sure Metamask is pointing the Network and Wallet

Make sure that you are now using the right Network and the imported wallet (Account 2)

Click/press the very top of the Metamask app where it says “Wallet Ethereum Main Network”.  Scroll down and choose “Binance Smart Chain”

Click the menu button on the top left and click on “Account 1” and choose “Account 2”.

Step 7 : Add your missing coin to the BSC wallet on Metamask

At the bottom of the Metamask wallet, click “+ADD TOKENS”.  Search for the token that you are missing (eg. USDT) and then click “ADD TOKEN”.

You might need to restart Metamask in order to see your balance.

Step 8 : Now get it to where you wanted it

There are a number of ways to do this, but the easiest is to send it back to Binance.  In Binance, when you look for your Deposit address, make sure that you pick BEP20 (BSC).

After you have done this, send it to the right place using the network that BOTH wallets support.

NOTE: this was quite complicated to work out, so if this helps you and you would like to send me a tip my wallets are:

BTC
1Gxjf2crehcSDRQh4dUkGD4wcg8AartTqm

ETH (ERC20 or BEP20)
0x4471e4ab83069fd926ba418a1731766b4699e313

BNB (BEP2)
bnb136ns6lfw4zs5hg4n85vdthaad7hq5m4gtkgf23
Memo: 102292475

Warning

Only put in money that you can afford to lose completely.  Crypto currencies are relatively new and a simple legislation change could make the price halve in a matter of minutes, an exchange could be hacked, or the exchange owner might disappear with all the assets.

Step 1 – Sign up at an exchange

The below are referral links that might give me a small tip or even both of us free BTC when you get around to depositing.

Binance is the main one that I use, and it is by far the cheapest.  Customer service is hard to get hold of if you have a problem.

Coinbase is probably the easiest exchange to use, but has high fees, a poor selection of coins to invest in and the spread (difference between buying and selling) is very wide.

Kucoin is another alternative that has a diverse range of investment options.

Poloniex is a good alternative with a clean look about it.

Step 2 – Provide identification & set up 2FA

It’s all good signing up, and they might even let you deposit, but the exchange might not let you withdraw until you have provided your ID.

Ensure that you set up 2 Factor Authentication, which is usually done using the Google Authenticator application.  Make sure you write down your recovery code and keep it somewhere very safe.  What you put into your account now might seem like not much, but in 5 years you might be crying if you cannot login.

Step 3 – Deposit using card or Faster Payments

It might be tempting to just go for the easy option of buying crypto with a card, but this simple option comes with a 2% fee.

A Faster Payments deposit is free, perhaps send a smaller amount on your first transfer, and then a spot trade has 0.1% fee.

Step 4 – Use 50% of your deposit  to buy the crypto that you are interested in

On the Binance menu, choose Trade > Convert, pick GBP from the top one, use half of what you have put in.  Not putting all your eggs in one basket is a good idea.  That goes for Exchanges too.

Step 5 – HODL (Hold On for Dear Life)

Waiting can yield some impressive gains, so do it.

Step 6 – BTD (Buy The Dip).

Warning: If it is just your coin that is plummeting you need to question whether this is a dip or a bad investment.

When there is a large dip, it’s time to spend some of that money that you have been holding back.  Use 10% of what you have left every time there’s a strong dip.  If it keeps going down, wait a week and buy some more!  If you run out of money, you are back to step 5.

My Investing

I have about 50% Bitcoin (BTC), 25% Ethereum (ETH) and then lots of other “gambles” on smaller coins either because I like the prospects, or because there is a current buzz (but get out quick on these).

On my smaller coins, I tend to sell 50% of a coin when the price doubles.  I like having the feeling that I’ve effectively got them for free.

After 1 month of my initial investment I was more than 50% down.  This lasted a long time and I stopped looking at it.  2 years later my investment was 2x.  Another year and it was over 5x (before the crash in 2017).  In Feb 2021, I withdrew 3x what I had invested over the years and still have well over 10x what I invested.  

Resources

https://coinmarketcap.com/ – the best resource for coin information.

https://www.cryptocompare.com/ – a good resource for coin information.

https://www.blockchaincenter.net/bitcoin-rainbow-chart/ – Bitcoin rainbow price chart.

https://alternative.me/crypto/fear-and-greed-index/ – Crypto fear and greed index.