Tutorial – How to Send your BAT/ETH using MyEtherWallet (MEW) – Part 2/2

Previously, in part 1 we learned how to create an ETH/BAT wallet using MyEtherWallet (MEW). In this tutorial, we will learn how to spend funds from your MEW wallet!

Go to MyEtherWallet.com

Head over to MyEtherWallet.com (remember to type this into the address bar and not use any external links for crypto-safety best practices!)

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Click on the dimmed background to dismiss the menu.

Send Ether & Tokens

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  1. Click Send Ether & Tokens.

Opening wallet with Keystore

As we discussed in the previous tutorial, we should always be opening with the Keystore file and not the Private Key to protect ourselves against key loggers.

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  1. Select Keystore / JSON File

Enter your Keystore credentials

Load your Keystore file from your computer, and enter the password. Remember to always have the Keystore file saved/backed up somewhere!

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  1. Click Select Wallet File… and browse from your computer. Look for the Keystore file that you created for this wallet.
  2. Enter your password. (The password textbox will appear once the Keystore is loaded.)
  3. Click Unlock.

Sending Ethereum

Once you have unlocked your wallet, you will see things like your public address (on the right side under Account Address), and your ETH account balance. Since MEW is an Ethereum wallet by default, it will only load your ETH balance on start. If you have BAT or any other tokens, you have to click “Load Tokens” to be able to access them.

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  1. Insert the Address where you want to send your funds.
  2. Input the amount of ETH that you want to send.
  3. To access other tokens in your wallet, like BAT, click Load Tokens. (Wait a few seconds for them to load. If you want to just send Ethereum, go ahead and skip to Setting the Gas Price.)

Sending ERC20 Tokens, such as BAT

After clicking the orange Load Tokens button, select the token in your wallet you wish to send. And remember to adjust the Amount that you want to send!

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  1. Click the ETH dropdown, and select the ERC20 token. In this case, we will select the BAT in our wallet.
  2. Enter the amount of BAT to send.

Note: After selecting a new Token, the Gas Limit area underneath will automatically change. It is best to not touch this, but instead set the Gas Price in the next section.

Setting the Gas Price

The Gas Price for a transaction is basically the cost to send your funds. Gas is always paid in ETH. Regardless of whether you’re sending ETH or BAT to another person, you will always need ETH to pay for the transaction! So make sure you always have some ETH in your wallet! (About 0.01 ETH or more should do it)

Setting a higher gas price to pay will result in a faster transaction time. We want to look up how busy the Ethereum network is currently, so we’ll visit the Eth Gas Station site to see what price we should set.

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  1. Click that tiny URL in the upper right corner that says Eth Gas Station. (We’ll use this page to find out how busy it is, and we’ll set our gas prices accordingly. For reference, transactions cost anywhere from $0.01 to $0.50, depending on the ETH network and how fast you want it to go.)

Finding the Best Gas Price

Once we’re at the Eth Gas Station, we want to look at recommended gas prices and transaction times. The useful part is in the lower-right corner.

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  1. We can see that:
    • Gas Price of 10 gwei will result in transactions up to 60 mins
    • Gas Price of 23 gwei will result in transactions up to 5 mins
    • Gas Price of 40 gwei will result in transactions up to 2 mins

Setting the Gas Price Continued…

After looking at the prices for transaction times, I decide I want to go with the quickest option. I’m trying to trade some crypto, and time is money!

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  1. Select the Gas Price dropdown button.
  2. Move the circle button to set the Gas Price to about 41 gwei, to ensure that we get a transaction through in 2 minutes or less! (This is usually about $0.30 or so)
  3. Click Generate Transaction to send our BAT!

Send Transaction!

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  1. Click Send Transaction.

Confirm and Send!

Review everything to make sure it’s correct!

  • Double check the To: Address to make sure you’re sending to the right person. Always copy+paste this!
  • Make sure you’re sending the right Coin. In this case, we’re sending BAT.
  • The Gas Limit was generated automatically.
  • The Gas Price is what we set based on the network congestion and how fast we wanted our transaction to go through.

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  1. Click Yes, I am Sure! and send away!

Once sent, you will see a Transaction ID provided. Copy that ID and head on over to Etherscan.io and paste it into the search bar to follow it!

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned how to send funds from our MEW wallet. To recap:

  • We opened our wallet using our Keystore file and password (I do NOT recommend opening wallets using your Private Key since it is susceptible to key loggers.)
  • Set the amount of ETH we wanted to send.
  • Optionally, we were able to send other Ethereum Tokens, such as BAT that was in our wallet already.
  • We looked up the network congestion using the Eth Gas Station link provided by MEW.
  • We set a Gas Price based on the network congestion and how fast we wanted our transaction to go through.
  • And finally, we clicked a few more buttons to send our funds!

Congratulations, you now have all the tools to receive and send Ethereum and ERC20 tokens!

Once again, always try to protect your Keystore filepassword, and Private Key! The Keystore file isn’t as dangerous to leave open as long as it was created with a strong password, but your Private Key absolutely needs to be concealed and protected. 

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2 thoughts on “Tutorial – How to Send your BAT/ETH using MyEtherWallet (MEW) – Part 2/2

  1. Thanks frosty. followed your instructions to the letter. Still Cannot send/swap! I down loaded mist and backed up wallet and key to encrypted USB. Whenever i try to send I get ERROR 004 or insufficient funds or I.S.T. I’ve been around from pillar to post with no results! some advice required.
    Thanks in advance.

  2. Many thanks for this article it has been very helpful. I didn’t know that option… I’ve always used the most simpliest and unefective way of sending eth using my private key… I will take into account your advises. Many thanks!

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