Educational Byte: What is MetaMask and How to Use It with Obyte?

Cryptocurrency wallets are a type of light software needed to interact with a decentralized network, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Obyte. As the name suggests, they mostly work to store funds and make payments, but using different kinds of decentralized apps (Dapps) is also on the table in the crypto world. Every distributed ledger often has its own wallet, but that doesn’t mean they can’t cooperate. That’s the case with MetaMask and Obyte.

MetaMask is, likely, the most popular crypto wallet for Ethereum-compatible networks and tokens. It was released in 2016 by ConsenSys, as free and open-source software. It’s available as a simple web browser extension or mobile app, and it’s easy enough to set up and handle. You’ll recognize it everywhere for its characteristic low-poly fox logo that may follow the movements on your touchscreen or your mouse.

What can you do with MetaMask?

After the installation on your preferred device, the first thing you’ll need to do is make a backup of your seed. In other words, write down and safely keep the string of random words that’ll be the only help to recover your funds if you happen to uninstall the app or lose the device. This is an important step when using any crypto wallet, not only MetaMask. Setting up a password is also a good idea.

Then, you can start storing and trading funds through the app, just by selecting a crypto network and using the crypto addresses provided by your recipients, or sharing your own to receive. MetaMask, of course, manages Ether (ETH) and ERC-20 tokens inside Ethereum (such as the most popular stablecoins). However, you can also select tokens from other compatible ledgers, including Polygon, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Kava, and Gnosis. Obyte isn’t included in the list, because it isn't directly compatible with Ethereum, but we’ll get there below.

Besides the most basic functions, another key feature of MetaMask is its ability to connect you to Dapps. Whether you're interested in decentralized finance platforms (exchanges, lenders, liquidity mining, etc.), Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplaces, or decentralized games, this wallet could serve as a gateway, allowing you to interact with these platforms without abandoning the app in most cases.

MetaMask + Obyte

We can say that MetaMask is the first bridge between Obyte and other decentralized networks. As you may know, Obyte has its own wallet to store, send, and receive funds, chat privately, and access Dapps and chatbots within its own ledger. However, some Dapps are meant to connect to the outside crypto world, and users will need a MetaMask wallet for that. We’ll look into three of them.

Counterstake Bridge

This is a cross-chain bridge in Obyte, which means it works to exchange Obyte-based tokens for an equivalent in external networks (export) or bring external tokens into the Obyte network (import). This way, you could, for instance, exchange some GBYTE on Obyte (from the Obyte wallet) for GBYTE on Ethereum (to MetaMask), or ETH on Ethereum to ETH on Obyte. In both cases, your address or payment in MetaMask will be required.

LINE Token

This is a price-protected token based on Kava but meant to be borrowed and bridged into Obyte to earn rewards. You can use KAVA, Tether, or Kava-based GBYTEs (Obyte native coin) to borrow LINE, all of them from MetaMask.

Decentralized Exchanges

Obyte has its own DEX, Oswap.io, but it only works with Obyte-based assets. To trade with other networks, these assets should pass first through Counterstake and land on MetaMask. Once there, you can use external DEXes like Quickswap to exchange, for example, some Polygon-based GBYTEs for Tether (USDT).

So, MetaMask and Obyte, although different, can work together to enhance your experiences in the crypto world. Bridges like Counterstake enable seamless asset exchanges between them, expanding possibilities for users by connecting two distinct ecosystems and leveraging the strengths of both.

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