SafeMoon: Soon (with some patience), you’ll be a proud “Hodl’er”

Despite a recent and ongoing industrywide price correction, cryptocurrencies are still the future of finance.

While there’s fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) about crypto, it's quite easy to acquire some of the larger, more tried-and-tested coins like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). But obtaining smaller altcoins can be more challenging.

In this piece, I’ll walk you through the steps to acquire SafeMoon – launched on March 8, 2021, on the Binance Smart Chain — dubbed by developers as the “world’s fasted growing cryptocurrency.”

Don’t be intimidated — it seems like a lot at first glance. But if you follow the steps in order, soon (with some patience), you’ll be a proud Hodl’er (a deliberate misspelling of the word “hold” used in the crypto industry) of this new, fast-growing digital token.

A disclaimer before we get started: This is not financial advice. Although I will try my best to provide detailed and easy-to-follow instructions, please be aware that making a wrong move can mean you lose your coins in cyberspace — and I cannot take responsibility for that! As one Redditor notes, sending coins to a wrong or incompatible address is “the digital equivalent of dropping cash out of your pocket on the street and having a random person pick it up nearly instantly.”

Furthermore, despite the fact that in just two months SafeMoon has appreciated more than the S&P 500 has over the last decade, there is no guarantee that these gains will continue moving forward. I would advise that you don’t invest money you aren’t willing to lose.

Here is a shortened version of the steps we’ll take (a more detailed explanation of the specifics will follow):

1. Acquire Ethereum (ETH)
2. Create an account on crypto exchange Binance.us
3. Transfer ETH to Binance.us
4. On Binance.us: convert ETH to Binance Coin (BNB)
5. Download/create an account on the MetaMask crypto wallet
6. Set up Binance Smart Chain compatibility in MetaMask
7. Add SafeMoon functionality to MetaMask
8. Send BNB from Binance.us to MetaMask
9. Use PancakeSwap app/website to exchange BNB for SafeMoon
10. SafeMoon will appear in your MetaMask wallet

Before we get started, here are a few notable points:

• This how-to guide is for users in the United States.
• Binance.us (more on this service below) takes a day or two to verify your identity – this is because the United States practices more-stringent Know Your Customer (KYC) laws than many other countries.
• Binance.us versus Binance.com: while this is not recommended, people familiar with Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) can set their location to a country that permits the use of Binance.com. Binance.com, as opposed to Binance.us, allows traders to use the service right away without inputting much personal information. (Remember: Binance.com and Binance.us are different platforms that require separate login/account details – check the URL to make sure you’re on the desired platform).
• Cryptocurrency trading often comes with associated fees, so make sure you take that into account and give yourself some padding. For this experiment, I started out with ~$275 in ETH and ended up with just under $250 worth of SafeMoon.
• You will be creating several different accounts and wallets: Make sure to write down your usernames, passwords, and seed phrases and keep them somewhere safe.
• While I'll explain the basics, if you're unsure about any of the terms or phrases in this guide, Bitcoin Wiki is a great resource. You can also click any hyperlinks for more detailed explanations of some of the more complicated steps.
• Be careful and take your time: You can also consult the SafeMoon website, Reddit, or even Google.

CRYPTO-SAVVY is an occasional series from Inverse that explains the world of cryptocurrency and where it’s going next.

Steps: how to acquire SafeMoon

To start the process of acquiring SafeMoon, you'll need a cryptocurrency wallet that contains Ethereum. If you don't have ETH, I recommend using Coinbase.com. With Coinbase, you can create an account and, after verifying your identity, connect a debit card/bank account to buy the coins effortlessly.

Step by step guide:

1. Acquire some Ethereum (as noted above) or convert another coin to Ethereum. I had some Bitcoin holdings in my blockchain.com wallet and converted some BTC to ETH in minutes.

2. Create an account on Binance.us and verify your identity. Once verified, Binance.us allows you to buy, sell, swap, and store a variety of coins.

3. Transfer some ETH (as noted, I used about ~$275 worth) from your ETH wallet to your newly created Binance.us wallet. To do this, you’ll copy your Binance.us wallet address (“to”) and paste it into the wallet that contains your Ethereum (“from”). The transfer should only take a few minutes. Binance.us offers more detailed instructions on how to deposit cryptocurrency into their platform here.

4. Once you have the ETH in your Binance.us wallet, “Convert” the ETH into the exchange’s native cryptocurrency Binance Coin (BNB). We’re using BNB (on the Binance Smart Chain) to buy our SafeMoon because the associated transaction fees are much lower than Ethereum’s transaction fees.

5. The next element of the process is to download the MetaMask crypto wallet app on iOS or Android. To make things smoother, I suggest you download the MetaMask browser extension for Google Chrome and sync it with the app.

6. Next, we have to set up Binance Smart Chain compatibility in MetaMask. In the app (or browser extension), click “Settings” > “Networks” > “Add Network” and input the following:

Network Name: Smart Chain

RPC URL: https://bsc-dataseed.binance.org/

Chain ID: 56

Symbol: BNB

Block Explorer URL: https://bscscan.com

It will look like this:

7. Click either “Save” or “Add.” The Binance Smart Chain will now be compatible with MetaMask.

8. Go back to the MetaMask app's home screen, and at the top, click where it reads "Wallet – Ethereum Main Network.” Scroll down and select “Smart Chain.” It should now read “Wallet – Smart Chain” at the top of the screen, and the units will no longer be denominated in ETH but in BNB. For more detailed instructions on connecting MetaMask to the Binance Smart Chain, you can find Binance’s instructions here.

Below are two screenshots: before on the “Ethereum Main Network” (on the left) and after on the “Smart Chain” network (on the right).

9. Now we have Binance Smart Chain compatibility with MetaMask, we’re going to add SafeMoon functionality. At the bottom of the main screen click “Add Tokens” and enter the following in the “Token Address” field:

0x8076c74c5e3f5852037f31ff0093eeb8c8add8d3

After inputting this “Token Address,” the "Token Symbol" should then auto-fill to "SAFEMOON," and "Tokens of Precision" should auto-fill to read "9."

It will look like this:

Click “Add token.” On the MetaMask main screen, you should now see 0 SafeMoon next to your 0 BNB.

10. Copy the address of your MetaMask wallet (the address will start with “0x”) and return to Binance.us. Go to your wallet Binance.us wallet, click “Withdraw,” paste your MetaMask wallet address in where it reads “Recipient’s BNB Address,” and transfer your BNB. The process will take a few minutes as it needs to be verified; shortly, the BNB will appear in your MetaMask wallet.

11. We're almost there! Next, go to the PancakeSwap website/app, and in the top right corner, click "Connect" and select your MetaMask wallet.

In "from" make sure BNB is selected (you should see your BNB balance) and click "MAX." In "to" search for and then select "SAFEMOON."

Now go to Settings (click the slider bar) and change the “Slippage tolerance” to 12 percent then close the box.

At this stage, your PancakeSwap screen should look something like the following screenshot (except you will have a larger BNB balance where mine reads 0.00578943 and you won’t (yet!) have a SafeMoon balance where mine reads 41,453,300):

12. Click “Swap.” You’ll have to wait 10-20 minutes for the network to verify the transaction, and then your new SafeMoon should appear in your MetaMask wallet (along with a small amount of BNB for transaction fees in the future)!

Here’s what mine looks like:

13. Now you have your SafeMoon in your possession and safely secured in your MetaMask wallet!

Use CoinMarketCap to check the (rapidly) fluctuating price of the digital asset. Perhaps you might decide to sell for a profit, or maybe, like me, you intend to "hodl” until it reaches the moon!