How to use MyEtherWallet?

Given the popularity of ERC-20 standard tokens from the Ethereum Blockchain network commonly used by ICOs, MyEtherWallet has emerged as one of the most recommended wallets for storing acquired ERC-20 tokens.

Also known as MEW, this purse works directly with Ethereum’s Blockchain technology, which allows to store ETH, ETC, EOS and any token that is made under the ERC-20 standard.  Also, its simplicity of use and the fact that it is free, make this wallet one of the most popular in the market.

What is MyEtherWallet?

MyEtherWallet is a purse made and presented for customers to manage their crypto coins within the Blockchain network of Ethereum, giving also the possibility to create new wallets compatible with this network. Although it is an Internet wallet, the purses created in it are cold purses, meaning that they are not connected to the Internet. The funds are stored directly on our computer. We need to understand this in order to safeguard the integrity and security of the computer on which we downloaded the wallet.

This purse has compatibility with others, including hardware wallets such as TREZOR or Ledger Nano S. Specifically, MEW can be connected to Jaxx, Mist, Geth and Metamask purse.

How do I create my wallet in MyEtherWallet?

As we mentioned before, MyEtherWallet is very easy to use, and following a few simple steps we’ll be able to create our own wallet to store the ERC-20 tokens we want.

Login to the MEW website

First we must enter the official MyEtherWallet website. It is important that we verify the security of the web before doing any type of action since, although the purse has an excellent level of security, cases of Phishing with false pages have been detected to obtain the access keys or to generate income in false accounts.

Create a new MEW wallet

Once we have verified the SSL certificate of the website and have been able to see that we are on a secure website, we will proceed to open our wallet. In the main page we are going to notice a form in which we must introduce and generate a key of 9 characters. Then click on the “Generate Portfolio” button. It is very important that the password we have created is stored in a completely safe place because only with it we can enter our funds.

Save generated passwords

Once we have pressed the Generate wallet button, we will see on the screen a blue button that we must click to proceed to download the files that contain our Private Key.
These files that we will proceed to download are made up of all the data in our purse. We need to safeguard this data to the best of our ability, because in the event of misappropriation, our funds could be seriously compromised.

Access to the MEW wallet

Once we have our passwords, we will proceed to access our virtual wallet. Here also we can accede to other wallets that have the Private Keys of access.

What will we see once inside our MyEtherWallet purse?

Once inside our wallet, we are going to find a series of elements that we must distinguish to know how to receive or send tokens directly from our MEW.

• Public Key. As we well know, the public key is the address where we will receive our funds. The address is also given to us in QR code, ideal for scanning it and using it to send tokens from mobile phones.
• Balance. The account balance can be displayed in both ETH and ERC-20 tokens.
• Non-encrypted private key. Here we will see our private key without any level of encryption.
• Transaction history. Here we will be able to track all the operations we have carried out from our purse.
• Buy Ether with Fiat coin. The wallet does not present a direct option to buy ETH with them but it does have the option to redirect you to Coinbase and buy from there.
• Print paper wallet. It’s a button that will allow us to print our wallet and have it on paper.

How do we send funds from MyEtherWallet?

If we already have our ERC-20 tokens or our ETHs in our MyEtherWallet account, then we need to know how to move them. Here we will explain you the step by step to realize this:

1. We go into the MyEtherWallet website and look for the option that says “Send Ether and tokens”.
2. You enter the data to access the account.
3. We look where it says “to” and there we will put the public key of the purse to which we want to send coins.
4. We introduce the amount of coins we want to send.
5. We establish the gas that we will pay for the completion of the transaction. We must remember that depending on the committee we set up, our operation will be carried out more or less quickly.
6. Check and detail that all data entered for the realization are correct.
7. Click Generate Transaction.

MyEtherWallet Security

One of the most important elements to consider when we want to create our Wallets is the issue of security, and in this case MyEtherWallet gives us ample guarantees because it has the highest levels of security in the market. We will explain the reasons why we consider this purse to have such parameters.

All operations are kept offline

As mentioned earlier, the wallet keeps funds offline, away from hacker attacks. The important thing in this sense is to emphasize the care that we must have on the private keys of our purse. Remember that if these keys are lost, there is no way to recover them.

Team constantly working

The developers behind MyEtherWallet keep working to improve all the security elements of the wallet. In this way, the updates of the Wallet are aimed at improving both the security as well as the quality and accessibility of the same.

No reported hacking attacks

In the years that MEW has been in operation, no type of hacking or theft of assets from these purses has been detected. Given the format and operation of the wallet, there is no way to hack into accounts without user data.

What we have been able to see are Phishing attacks to obtain the Private Keys of users and then enter the Ethereum network with these data. This particularity is one of the main disadvantages that we can see in MEW, but it is an aspect easily solvable, just be very cautious and make sure to enter our user data in the right place.