Fund Metamask Easily To Buy Pega on Pegaxy

[#246] Date: 30th January, 2022

If you are a regular reader, you would have read the challenges I faced putting money into my Metamask Polygon wallet to purchase a pega for the Pegaxy game. Initially, I did not want to buy a pega because it was getting more and more expensive. However, after @Infinity calculated for me how I can recover my investment within a month, based on the earnings from my profit-sharing pega, I took a leap of faith and decided to invest in the game.

Due to the rush, I did not have time to look for the best way to deposit the USDT required for the purchase, and so I took the same path that was taken by @bmjc98 and @Eybyoung who each purchased a pegasus just a couple of days before. They cashed out their Bitcoin Cash on Binance, swapped it to MATIC, transferred it to the Metamask wallet, then finally used Kyberswap to swap to USDT for the purchase. It was a long route and much was spent on gas fees every step of the way. Later, MJ discovered that there is no need to swap to MATIC first and that she could do BCH -> USDC on Binance, so that cut short my route.

To fund my Metamask wallet, I had to get MJ to help me because Binance is not allowed to operate legally in Malaysia, hence I did not want to have my funds trapped there, unable to withdraw or transfer out. It was a hassle, even though MJ didn't mind, but I just felt bad putting unnecessary stress on her, not once or twice, but thrice! As you know, it's not a small amount of money and anything can happen during the transit in the Wild, Wild World of Blockchain.

It's always been a hassle to move crypto across blockchains that even those who have been long in the scene may not know how to do it. Recently, someone asked me how to fund his Metamask as he wishes to procure a pegasus also. After doing some research, he made two proposals: purchase my pegasus or buy MATIC from me. I was not ready to do either, mainly because I am looking to get a second pega, and need the funds on standby in my wallet.

Yesterday, in my article Withdraw VIS to Local Bank Account Easily Using Mist Bridge, I provided a guide on how we can withdraw VIS, the Pegaxy game token to our local bank account, utilizing multiple services: KyberSwap, Mist Bridge, hop.cash and Luno.

The article received a comment from a hop.cash team member, Jonathan Silverblood, who tipped me to use SideShift instead, for a more straightforward route to save time and gas fees. Ah, many months ago, a friend had asked if I was using SideShift. As I did not have a need to move crypto between blockchains then, I did not bother exploring it. Now that I need to do it, I have forgotten about this amazing service. Once again, thanks to Jonathan for bringing it to my attention. I gave it a test right away.

I did two tests, actually:
1. Fund Metamask Polygon wallet with (Layer 1) BCH
2. Withdraw VIS from Metamask Polygon wallet to Luno exchange (BCH wallet)

1. Fund Metamask Polygon wallet with (Layer 1) BCH
In this trial run, I moved 0.01 BCH from my Luno exchange (BCH wallet) to my Polygon wallet on Metamask. As you can see from the screenshot, I selected From and To and pasted my Polygon address in the field. The minimum amount to shift is 0.00996862 BCH. Gas fee is negligible and the transaction was completed within minutes.

With MATIC in my wallet, I could then use KyberSwap to swap to USDT to purchase a pegasus.

2. Withdraw VIS from Metamask Polygon wallet to Luno exchange (BCH wallet)
Use KyberSwap to convert VIS to MATIC. Then using SideShift, select MATIC to send and BCH to receive. As I am withdrawing to Luno, I can also choose LTC.

Luno Malaysia only has 5 legally-traded cryptos: BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC, and XRP. So, BTC and ETH are out due to their extremely high gas fees, while XRP transactions require a Destination tag, which I do not have. This is the reason BCH is my first choice and LTC is the backup crypto.

Using SideShift, both transactions took mere minutes to complete. However, it took Luno around 1.5 hours to acknowledge its arrival. This is still better than the 6 hours it took in yesterday's test.

SideShift will be my primary service moving forward, both for funding my Metamask Polygon wallet and for withdrawing VIS earnings from playing Pegaxy. If you are planning to do this also, DYOR and test with small amounts first. 

*Lead photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels