If you are feeling overwhelmed with the number of new Binance Smart Chain (BSC) based projects popping up everyday then trust me you are not alone. Few weeks back even I had my doubt if this was just a passing fad and was best to ignore it. Thanks to the exorbitant ETH fees there was not much I was able to do with the DeFI platforms I was familiar with like Uniswap, HarvestFinance, Aave and Compound so I decided to play around a bit the BSC platforms to get a feel of what it was all about.
Through this article I am not going to pass a judgement whether BSC is better than ETH based DeFI platforms or is totally useless. I just wanted to share an objective experience of using BSC so someone who is planning to try it out can get a basic idea.
What exactly is BSC and how is it different from ETH based DeFI Platforms?
In a nutshell BSC operates very similarly to ERC20 based DeFI platforms and the key difference is that it uses Binance/ BNB Mainnet instead of Ethereum Mainnet which is used by ETH based projects. The sole reason why it is gaining popularity at such a rapid pace is that soaring ETH transaction fees had pushed the retail investors out of the DeFI space as they could not imagine paying $100+ fees for a basic transaction on ETH.
Another key difference you need to keep in mind is that majority of ETH based platform were decentralized which means they could not be controlled by a central authority and were using a voting based governance process (I will not delve upon how fair that process was).
BSC on the other hand runs on BNB which is the proprietary token of Binance which is run by Changpeng Zhao, commonly referred to as CZ. Though he claims that his goal is to make BSC truly decentralized in the future at the moment it is not.
That said, if you have ever used ETH based DeFI platforms than getting the hang of BSC will not be complicated for you.
How do I start using BSC?
Just as Metamask is vital for operating on ETH based platforms it can be used for BSC as well. You will just need to change the Mainnet settings to add BSC as an option.
It is a straightforward process which is explained well o the following page shared by Binance- https://docs.binance.org/smart-chain/wallet/metamask.html
Once you have the add network option selected enter the following data for BSC.
· Network Name- Binance Smart Chain
· RPC URL: https://bsc-dataseed.binance.org
· ChainID: 56 in decimal (if 56 doesn’t work, try 0x38)
· Symbol: BNB
· Block Explorer: https://bscscan.com
After configuring this you will not be able to see the ERC20 tokens you had in your wallet and will only see the Binance network coins like BNB, BUSD etc.
To transfer funds I would recommend using Binance, if not then any wallet that support BEP20 coins. Very critical to remember to select BEP20/BSC option before sending your coins.
You will notice is that while it takes $10 for ERC20 token like BUSD it will be free to send it via BEP20.
The wallet address will remain the same so when you select ETH Mainnet it will show ERC20 token and when you move to BCS Mainnet it will show you the BEP20 tokens stored at the same address.
Once you have transferred some BNB to your Metamask you are ready to begin playing around with the BSC platforms.
What Exaclty is this PancakeSwap?
When you heard the first time about BSC it is highly likely it was related to a discussion on PancakeSwap. This is due to the fact that Pancake is the most popular BSC platform right now and it’s interface is very easy to follow as they had basically cloned Uniswap.
You must have heard of the rug-pull incidents and scams happening in BSC space. It is natural as many new players are entering BSC the scammers have found a great opportunity to trick newbies.
This is another reason why Pancake is a good starting point in BSC as it is relatively stable and secure compared to the other platforms popping up on BSC.
Just like Uniswap had the options to exchange your coins, provide liquidity for transaction pairs and join pools, Pancake offers the same features with it’s native token CAKE which is it’s counterpart for UNI.
I have included a video if you want to get a visual idea of how the platform looks.
I have been playing around with other platforms like AutoFarm, GooseFinance, BDollar etc and will be covering them in more details in the following posts.
Meanwhile if there is any doubt, comment or views about BSC you want to share do let me know in the comments.
Cheers,
SamBTC
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I can say about it that I could be easy to understand for those who have been in the DeFi. But, for someone like me who doesn't have the slightest idea of how to start (no matter how hard I try, I haven't been able to understand) is there an easier way to explain all this? I really want to learn