MyEtherWallet: An Introduction And Step By Step Guide For Beginners

MyEtherWallet: An Introduction And Step By Step Guide For Beginners
Sudhir Khatwani

MyEtherWallet

For those of you who have been here for some time, MyEtherWallet should not be a new name. But I understand that for some of you it might be new.

For, those people, MyEtherWallet it a web-based non-hosted wallet where you control your funds. It is written in Javascript and is open-source wallet to be used. It is a user-friendly application for securing Ether, ERC 20 tokens and interacting with smart contracts.

MyEtherWallet (aka MEW) claims to be an offline wallet as it uses a machine's browser to generate necessary data, and nothing is ever stored on MyEtherWallet servers.

MEW has its web-based interface and as well as a Chrome extension version too but for this tutorial, we will keep the scope limited to web version only.

In its web interface, you can manage your Ether & other tokens directly or else you can manage them via MEW on Ledger Nano S, Trezor, Digital Bitbox or MetaMask too. But in this tutorial, we will only see how to directly manage your tokens on the web version of MEW directly.

Note: In the future, I will append this article with more information on how to use MEW with Trezor or Ledger Nano S like wallets also.

So let's get started with the following aims:

How to make a MEW wallet?
How to manage (Send/Receive) Ether on MEW wallet.
How to manage ERC 20 tokens on MEW

How to make a MEW wallet?

1) First, you will be to access MEW wallet client. You can access the same from this link-https://www.myetherwallet.com/#generate-wallet

Note: That there are many phishing scams going on around MEW so be care full and bookmark the MEW wallet official link and never forget to check for MYETHERWALLET LCC [US] in the address bar with secure https connection.

2) Once you access the link, this will be the screen you see for the first time:

MEW-Homepage

3) Enter your password that you want to keep for, the wallet, and click on 'Create New Wallet'. (Note: This password encrypts your private key. This does not act as a seed to generate your keys. You will need this password + your private key to unlock your wallet.)

4) Once you click 'Create New Wallet' you will see this screen instructing you to download 'Keystore File' with several important disclaimers.

Save-Private-Keys-on-MEW

5) Now after reading the instructions, click 'Download Keystore File' and once you have clicked it 'Continue' option will be enabled.

MEW-KeyStore-File

6) The UTC file you see in the above image needs to be saved and secured. Do not change the name or content of the file in any case. Save the file to offline hard drive or pen drive which you don't take online.

7) Now, click on 'I understand. Continue' to see this screen that will display your private keys.

Save-Your-Private-Keys-MEW

8) Now click on 'Print Paper wallet' to get a paper wallet like this: (Optional-Not recommended if you don't know how to take care of paper wallets)

Paper-Wallet-MEW

9) Click on 'Save Your Address' in #7 to return to this screen:

10) Tada! You have made a new wallet on MEW to manage your Ether and other tokens on it.

How to manage (Send/Receive) Ether on MEW wallet?

1) When your MEW account first time the wallet isn't unlocked instantly. You need to unlock it first to use it.

2) There are several ways of unlocking it but we will stick to the option of unlocking your wallet via the stored 'Keystore File' that we have downloaded in step #5 in the first section. You will also need your password that you have setup in step #2 in the first section.

3) Now, select the 'Keystore File' option as shown below. You can access this unlocking menu from menu bar of MEW via option 'Ether & Tokens'

Unlock-MEW

4) Once you select this option you will be prompted to select 'Keystore File' as shown below:

Select-Wallet-File-MEW

5) And once you have selected the file you will be prompted to enter the password that you must have secured in the step #1.

Enter-Password-MEW

6) Now, enter your password and unlock your wallet to see this screen.

MEW-Wallet-Interface

7) As you can see that in above image, MEW wallet is open and you can see your account address to receive ETH or tokens on it. 'To Address' to put ETH address of the recipient and 'Amount To Send' filed also. This way you can access your MEW and send/receive ETH and other tokens.

How to manage ERC 20 tokens on MEW?

To manage ERC 20 tokens on MEW wallet is as easy as ETH itself.

1) Once you have unlocked MEW, click on 'Show All Tokens' option as shown in this image.

MEW-ERC-20-Tokens

2) Once you click this option you will see a list of all the MEW supported tokens.

MEW-ERC-20-Tokens

3) Now, click on any token to load and enable it in MEW and it will reflect the balance of those tokens in MEW.

Loaded-ERC-20-Tokens-on-MEW

4) And if your token is not yet supported in MEW then you can add it yourself by adding the necessary details as shown below:

Add-Custom-Token-in-MEW

5) This way you will be able to manage your ERC 20 tokens also in MEW.

Few Important Things To Note…

You ETH address and token address for ERC 20 tokens will be same unless you make different accounts. Recommended making only one account and manage everything for that.
Also, while sending ERC 20 out of MEW wallet make sure to select the right token from the drop-down menu in 'Amount to send' field.

Toke-Selection-in-MEW

For example, if you are sending PAY tokens out you need to select PAY in the drop-down and if you are sending OMG out then select OMG in the drop-down.
Also, select the right Gas Price and Gas Limit while sending ETH or tokens out of the MEW otherwise your transactions will fail. Use this guide to know more about the concept of Gas limit and Gas price.

MEW-Gas-Price