Guidance: How to get started with MetaMask, add a custom network, and claim test coins?

DeCus.io
4 min readJul 25, 2021

MetaMask is a popular extension supported in Chrome, Firefox, and Brave browsers. It was developed out of the need for creating more secure and usable Ethereum-based websites. In particular, it handles account management and connecting the user to the blockchain.

Get Started with MetaMask

1.Visit this link 👉 https://metamask.io and click “Download” in the upper right corner.

2.Click “Install MetaMask for Chrome” at the bottom to go to the Chrome Web Store.

3.Click “Add to Chrome” on the upper right corner and then click “Add extension” on the pop-up box.

4.Click “Get Started”

5.Click “Import wallet” to import your existing wallet using a 12-word seed phrase, or click “Create a Wallet” to create a new Ethereum wallet. (We choose to create a wallet here.)

6.MetaMask will then ask to gather some data analytics — that’s up to you. We choose to click “I Agree” here.

7.Create password, confirm, and then click “Create”.

8.Click “CLICK HERE TO REVEAL SECRET WORDS”, create a backup of your seed phrase, and then click “Next”.

9.Choose the words from your seed phrase in the right order to make sure they have been correctly backed up, and then click “Confirm”.

*Once again, the above backup phrase is ONLY FOR TEST.

10.Congratulations! Ethereum wallet has been successfully created. Your wallet address and the balance will show on the top of the page. You can directly copy your address here.

Add a Custom Network

MetaMask not only supports Ethereum Mainnet, but can also support several Ethereum Testnets and other EVM-compatible networks, like Binance Smart Chain(BSC), and Huobi Eco Chain(HECO), etc.

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is a powerful, sandboxed virtual stack embedded within each full Ethereum node, responsible for executing contract bytecode.

1.Click the drop down arrow to switch ‘Ethereum Mainnet’ to other Testnets. ‘Ropsten Test Network’ and ‘Kovan Test Network’ are the most frequently used ones.

2. If you want to add a custom network, please click the drop down arrow and choose ‘Custom RPC’. (We take BSC Testnet as an example here.)

3. Copy the information below, paste them to the corresponding place, and then click “SAVE”

Network Name: Binance Smart Chain Testnet

New URL: https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.binance.org:8545

ChainID: 97

4. The custom network is successfully added!

Claim Test Coins

Claim Test ETH for Ropsten Test Network

1.Go to the following faucet page, paste your address in the box, and click “Send me test Ether”.

https://faucet.ropsten.be/

Don’t know how to copy your address? Just click on the address under the title “Account 1”, and then paste the address in the faucet.

2.The balance of test Ether will change. You can check it in your wallet.

*Please make sure the network has been switched to Ropsten otherwise the balance will not show.

Claim Test BNB for BSC Testnet

1.Go to the following faucet page, paste your address in the box, and click “Give me BNB”.

https://testnet.binance.org/faucet-smart

2.The balance of test BNB will change. You can check it in your wallet.

*Please note that you can only claim once every minute.

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