Welcome to Episode 5, coming to you live from the dusty trails on the Pakse Loop in Laos.

In Episode 3, we walked though the basics of setting up and funding your crypto wallet— a solid start! But that was only the beginning; your wallet is capable of so much more.

In this instalment we’ll dive deeper, building on EP. 3 with a concise, step-by-step guide to unlocking its full potential.

Layout

When opening up Phantom, you’ll be met with this home page. Let’s break it down:

1. ‘Receive’ brings up your wallet’s public addresses, for Solana and other blockchains. Use this to receive crypto.
2. ‘Send’ allows you to send tokens to another persons wallet using their public address.
3. ‘Swap’ enables token swaps within Phantom. To save on fees, head to Jup.ag via the wallet’s in-app browser instead.
4. ‘Buy’ gives you the option to purchase additional crypto using fiat currency. Again, set up a CEX like Kraken Pro to save on fees.
5. Here you’ll find both the amount and value of the tokens in your wallet.
6. ‘Collectibles’ NFTs will be displayed here.
7. See 3.
8. Displays recent wallet activity; swaps, transfers, app interactions etc.
9. The in-app browser allows you to connect your wallet to crypto applications such as Jup.ag.

Sending Crypto

To send crypto, first click ‘send’ on the homepage.

A dropdown list will appear; select the token you wish to send.

In this example, I’ll choose USDC.

Afterwards, you’ll be prompted to enter the wallet address of the recipient.

Double check the address to ensure no mistakes, and then click ‘next’ in the top right.

Tip: Before sending a large amount, you could check that the address is correct with a small transfer.

Once you’ve confirmed the address, it’s time to select the amount.

It’s possible to toggle between the number of tokens and the USD value you wish to send.

In this example, I’m sending 1 USDC. ($1)

When ready, click ‘next’ in the top right.

Finally, a screen will appear summarising the transaction.

If everything looks correct, hit send at the bottom of the screen.

Within a few seconds, the transaction will confirm, and a green tick should display on screen.

If not, it’s likely an error has occurred.

Check your balances and try again.

Receiving Crypto

To receive crypto, first click ‘receive’ on the homepage.

If in person, let the other party scan your QR code, otherwise simply copy the address and paste it in a message.

Using Applications

Most crypto applications allow you to connect your wallet to their website.

On the first visit, you’ll be requested via a pop-up to ‘sign in’ or ‘connect wallet’.

After that, any transaction you make, perhaps swapping a token on Jupiter, will require confirmation via a pop-up.

Just like this!

Wallet Safety

Unfortunately, even the cryptocurrency world hasn’t escaped the wrath of health and safety. Still, it’s important that you heed these words of warning!

1. Only click on links you trust. Head to the company’s Twitter page to check it’s the right link.
2. Consider creating a ‘burner wallet’ and a ‘storage wallet’. Store most of your crypto in the latter, and only interact and connect to apps with the former.
3. Double and triple check wallet addresses before sending crypto. Scammers can imitate the first and last few characters of your wallet address in your transaction history.