Lecture 6.0.0. Practical Session: How to Set Up a Non-Custodial Wallet
Since non-custodial wallets are not located in exchanges (that is, they stand alone), you will need to visit their website and download the wallet to your desktop or phone. This exercise will guide you on how to set up your Metamask wallet.
Before You Set Up your Metamask wallet!!!
Remember, Google browsers such as Google Chrome are among the safest browsers. Hence, if you don’t have Google Chrome, go ahead and install it.
Step 1: Go to the correct website of metamask: metamask.io. Be careful of fake websites!
Note that you can download and install Metamask on your phone from your phone’s play store, and follow the set-up steps outlined here.
Step 2: Click on download and install Metamask in your Google Chrome browser. (Note that MetaMask is also available as an app for installation on your phone).
Once you finish installation, you will see the Metamask logo (the head of a fox) at the top righthand corner of your browser page.
Step 3: Click on the Metamask logo in the top righthand corner of your Google chrome browser.
Step 4: Read through the terms and conditions and if you are satisfied with them, agree by clicking “Accept.” This will open a new page.
Step 5: Enter a password and click “Create” to create your wallet.
Step 6: You will see a set of 12 “seed words.” These form your private key that must be kept safe. Remember that Metamask is a non-custodial wallet, hence, you alone are responsible for the safety of your private key.
Click “Save Seed Words as File” and copy the “Metamask Seed Words” file that is downloaded to a safe place. It is advisable you copy out the private key into a book and make two extra copies of the private key so that you can keep them in three different safe places.
Caution!!!
If you change your phone or computer, you can reinstall Metamask and recover your account by using the password and the private key (seed phrase). If you lose them, your Metamask account will be lost and your cryptos in it will be lost permanently.
Step 7: Click “I’ve Copied It Somewhere Safe” once your seed words file has been secured. This will open your Metamask wallet where you will see your Ethereum account.
Note that by default, Metamask is set for the Ethereum ecosystem, hence you use it to buy the coins and tokens that run on the Ethereum ecosystem.
However, the beauty of Metamask is that you can configure it for many other blockchains such as the Binance blockchain. This is discussed below.
(Please, note that Binance Smart Chain is now called BNB Smart Chain, abbreviated as BSC).