Metamask — How to add custom network (Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, Avalanche…)
This article is the continuation of the Satochip Metamask series which will show you how to use the Metamask extension as well as the Satochip hardware wallet. Today, you will learn how to add custom network to your Metamask account.
Introduction
The Metamask client is a web browser extension available on Chrome, Firefox, Brave and Edge. It offers a bridge between Ethereum blockchain (and other ERC-20 tokens) and your web browser. It’s the perfect tool to manage your NFTs or interact with DeFi services (Decentalised Finance), smart contracts, and other dApps (Decentralised Applications).
With an intuitive interface, Metamask offers a simple yet easy to use interface for the best user experience with the so-called “Web3”, or the “Decentralised Web” 🆒.
In this article, we will explain how to use the Metamask extension to add custom network. It will allow you to interract with other chain such the Binance Smart Chain, the Polygon network ($MATIC) or the Avalance network ($AVAX).
What are custom networks
A custom network is a non-Ethereum network that is EVM ready (Ethereum Virtual Machine). According to the Ethereum documentation, the Ethereum Virtual Machine ready network shares a lot in common with the Ethereum network. Among these similarities, these networks share the same addresses system meaning your addresses will be the same across all networks.
The most popular custom networks are:
- Binance Smart Chain (BSC)
- Polygon ($MATIC)
- Avalanche ($AVAX)
- But also HECO (Huobi Eco Chain), xDAI, EOS and many more…
So you can use your Metamask account to deal with : $BNB, $DAI, $CAKE, $MATIC, $SAFEMOON, $AVAX, $ETC and a lot of other tokens…
How to add custom networks
Open your web browser and click on the Metamask add-on icon.
Click on your avatar on the top right corner and click on “Settings”.
Go the “Networks” then click on “Add Network”. You will be asked to fill these fields :
- Network name
- New RPC URL
- Chain ID
- Currency Symbol (optional)
- Block Explorer URL (optional)
Network’s configuration list
To use the Binance Smart Chain network and be able to use the BSC tokens such $BNB, $CAKE, $SAFEMOON, $REEF, $DODO and any other Binance Wrapped Token, please select this configuration :
- Network Name : Binance Smart Chain MainNet
- New RPC URL : https://bsc-dataseed.binance.org/
- ChainID : 56
- Symbol : BNB
- Block Explorer URL : https://bscscan.com
Source : https://docs.binance.org/smart-chain/developer/rpc.html
To use the Polygon network and be able to use the powerful L2 solution, please select this configuration :
- Network Name: Polygon MainNet
- New RPC URL: https://rpc-mainnet.matic.network
- ChainID: 137
- Symbol: MATIC
- Block Explorer URL: https://explorer.matic.network/
Source : https://docs.matic.network/docs/develop/network-details/network/
- Network Name: Avalanche MainNet
- New RPC URL: https://api.avax.network/ext/bc/C/rpc
- ChainID: 43114
- Symbol: AVAX
- Block Explorer URL: https://cchain.explorer.avax.network/
Source : https://support.avax.network/en/articles/4626956-how-do-i-set-up-metamask-on-avalanche
- Network Name: xDai MainNet
- New RPC URL: https://rpc.xdaichain.com/
- ChainID: 0x64
- Symbol: xDai
- Block Explorer URL: https://blockscout.com/xdai/mainnet/
Source : https://www.xdaichain.com/for-users/wallets/metamask/metamask-setup
Switching between networks
As you can see, Metamask is really easy to customize in order to use a lot of other networks wich are EVM compatible.
You can switch from one network to another by clicking on the network field :
More information about Metamask
Metamask provide a very helpful documentation where you can learn more about this incredible extension ! The official Metamask knowledge base is the one stop shop to know more about Metamask, the custom tokens, seeds, how to use it and so on.
