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Transferring tokens and you (and how)

Phoebe AurumApr 18, 2021, 5:29:21 AM
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The Minds Token has a pretty decent value at the time of writing this, and at this point, many users want to transfer their off-chain tokens into On-chain, but at the moment, a few obstacles stand in their way. 

While some of them are beyond our control, I can guide the basics of how to do this process under the right conditions.

 

Let's start at the beginning.

 

Step one: First, we need to know what device you are using. As standard, I can offer limited support for Macintosh (Apple) users, but if you are using a Smartphone or a Personal Computer, I can help you, but the methods will be slightly different. For smartphone users, please click this link; for everyone else, continue reading this article. 

 

Step two: What browser are you using? If you have Opera or Brave, you can expect the browser to already come with its built-in wallet (and you can import a pre-existing Ethereum wallet into it if you know it's Seed Phrase); however, Minds only notices the native browser wallet when it's on an Opera browser (click here if you want some information on how to setup and use the built in Opera Wallet).

Opera is the fourth option that can appear if you are using it at the time you try to connect. 

Additionally, you can choose between Metamask, Connect Wallet, and Coinbase. The latter two require you to use your smartphone, so refer to the Smartphone version for advice on that. We'll continue to talk about the browser-based Ethereum Wallets. Note that any other Ethereum wallet not mentioned or shown on Minds as an option to connect more than likely means there is no means of actually using that wallet for transfers. 

 

Step three: Have you verified your phone and purchased Minds Plus? Before, you only needed to verify your phone. Still, due to a considerable number of scammers creating accounts with VoIP (Voice Over IP address) to grind for tokens, the solution was to make virtual numbers no longer valid and have people pay for that functionality. 

Your phone number is used to verify that are you are a unique user on the blockchain, but that doesn't mean your Phone Number is sitting there in plain text. It's obfuscated using several relatively impervious security measures meaning that the encrypted version of your phone number is still unique while giving no one (not even the Minds Staff) access to its original form.

Even still. If you feel that isn't good enough, you can still get your hands on a temporary secondary number, but it will cost you money. I can help you out with this if you like, but if you search for "non-VoIP phone numbers," you should get some options. Remember that you need to buy the nonservice-specific number; otherwise, you won't receive the verification code despite the number working. You will have to pay money for it, although it won't be any more than 10 dollars.

I can't help you with Minds +, though. You'll have to buy it, but that will either involve more Tokens than I have ever owned (although I probably have spent) or with fiat, which I also don't have. 

 

Step Four: If this is your first time installing Metamask, let's go through that process very carefully; otherwise, skip past this step. You can go to this site to install Metamask (or at least be given proper direction on where to install it) https://metamask.io/

During the setup process you'll be expected to setup a normal password, don't overthink this part as the password is just to keep people who have immeidate access to your PC from stealing your funds or spending your crypto. The login is specific to that browser and you can have different passwords for the same wallet when it's installed on different devices and browsers if you desire. 

after that, you need to set the wallet up. Given that we are not importing a wallet, you'll want to create one. Set up a memorable password and write down the seed phrase. Do not lose the seed phrase. If you do, the wallet funds are gone as no one will have access to it, so write it down, make copies of it. Just make sure you don't lose that Seed Phrase because you will need it. Metamask will ask if you want to try out swaps, but you can close that as we are a way off from using that function right now.

Metamask has a built in Swap feature but you can visit any of the sites listed in that image to swap out On chain Minds Tokens. My recommendation is 1inch as it's going to give you the best quote although Uniswap isn't a bad choice. 

 

Step Five: Now, you will need to connect the wallet. With Metamask installed and logged into, selecting it should bring up the window where Metamask should ask for permission to connect to Minds. 

It might not look exactly like this but it will be similar. 

Once you agree and let that happen, you should see your address on your wallet page.

If you see "Connect Wallet" or "Reconnect Wallet" or you don't see a check mark for a connected wallet then you need to click on that icon and set it up once again, this will probably be the case for any user who setup their wallet before the change that excluded VoIP and made Minds+ mandatory. 

If it doesn't attempt to connect to Metamask, there might be an issue with the browser. If reinstalling the browser does not solve this problem, a workaround is installing Opera, importing your Metamask Seed Phrase onto Opera's native wallet, and installing Metamask for Opera and importing the same address again. This time, Minds should allow you to connect with Opera and select that Metamask will connect (alternatively it may just prompt for you to use the Opera wallet outright which may require you installing Opera for mobile and importing the wallet onto the Mobile Opera browser).

 

Make sure the wallet address for Metamask (or any other wallet) and your wallet page match. If they don't match you could get errors when attempting to transfer and users may also get errors when they try to send On Chain tokens to you. 

 

Step Six: Do you have Ethereum in your wallet? You won't be able to get an accurate read of the transfer gas fee without it. You can buy some or I can give some to you. When the gas fees are high, I won't cover the transfer costs, so you might be better off buying Ethereum. 

Remember that the gas fee is the miner's price for completing your transactions and the Amount + Gas is the value of transaction as a whole. Just subtract the gas fee from the total to get the price of the ETH/Token you are sending/swapping/exchanging.

Once you have Ethereum in your wallet, you will be able to make a transfer, and as far as I can tell, the amount of Minds Tokens doesn't matter; you need to cover the gas fee, and if you add more to it, the transfer will go faster and not fail. Pay the bare minimum, and it may fail or take a while. 

The three preset options given to you are pretty reliable. When the gas fees aren't spiking, Slow isn't all that slow and Average will be quite fast but when gas fees are high Slow can take a few hours or longer depending on the situation.
If you Select Advanced Options you can adjust the price of the fee by changing the Gas Price. You can set it to any price but if it's too low it will fail.

If your transaction fees get stuck, you will have to reset your wallet (which won't delete your wallet's contents, but you will need your Seed Phrase) and then send 0 Ethereum to yourself. You can try canceling it or speeding it up, but that will cost you even more, Ethereum, and it may not work.

When diagnosing the status of a transaction open metamask and select activity. Click on the transaction that is pending to see additional details.
Click on the diagonal arrow to visit the etherscan page regarding your transaction. 
On this page you can see the ultimate status of your transaction. A loading bar will attempt to fill as the transaction finds a miner willing to complete it. If it's taking too long you will get an error message stating that. Additionally, if you click on "state" you can see if your transaction is going along the network smoothly or has failed/is in the process of failing. 
If you think that your transaction is failing click on the Pie Chart icon.
Select "Settings"
Choose "Advanced"
Select the option to Reset your Account REMEMBER TO RECORD YOUR SEED PHRASE BEFORE YOU DO THIS. Your Seed Phrase and your Private Key should be in Security and Privacy. Once you've done this then send 0 Ethereum to the stuck wallet from that same wallet. 

If you cancel the transfer for whatever reason, you may get an error that suggests that an additional problem is wrong, but this error is typically false. 

This error was more common when users were on Testnet but this error may also happen if there's a mismatch of wallets or indeed your wallet just isn't connected. If you see this error after cancelling a transaction then it means nothing. 

Once the transfer completes, there will be roughly 24 hours where Minds approves the transfer (which is separate from your wallet confirming the transaction), and once that approves, you should see the change on your wallet. 

While Metamask and Etherscan will confirm that the transaction was successful transfers are not fully confirmed until it goes through the Minds network and you will recieve emails that will update you on it's status.   

 

Step Seven: Now, you will be interested in swapping Minds Tokens for Ethereum. You can either do this on Metamask itself, or you can visit Uniswap or 1Inch to make such a trade. The functionality will be similar to the transfer. First a connection, then you have to unlock the ability to make a trade (this will cost Ethereum, unfortunately), then you will be able to start swapping. Make sure you look at what the gas fee is before making the trade so you can have a decent profit margin. 

When swapping tokens and Ethereum on a given exchange you will need to unlock the exchange's ability to handle the transaction. You can unlock it for a one time swap or unlock it forever if you plan to make many swaps in the future. Note that completing an Unlock is not swapping and you will have to unlock for every token when you want to swap it. 
Once you confirm a swap your wallet will prompted to follow through and give you a readout on the gas fee and the value of the transaction. If you don't like the gas fees or have a change of heart you can cancel/reject the transaction and no harm will be done.  
When you swap on metamask you will be given a time sensitive quote that you can accept assuming the gas price is to your liking. You can look at other quotes but Metamask will pick the best one for you. Depending on what you are swapping Metamask may not be able to find a swap for you.

And that's it for basic transfers! There are some additional things to know. 

For instance, there is a thing call "slippage" which can occur during a swap or is projected to appear which can negatively impact your profit margin in a trade but all exchanges have settings for that or at least warns you that it can occur. 

Also, you can have more than one account in a wallet. If you have an Ethereum address made on a different wallet program you can import that wallet as a secondary account if you have its Json file or its private key.