Welcome back to Crypto Noobs!

This series serves as a way for a regular guy that loves crypto to help educate others on how to use different blockchains, dapps, etc... I wrote the first of this series a couple days ago and shared how to get started with Binance Smart Chain on desktop and mobile. Check it out here if you've never used BSC or just want a little more information! Today I want to talk about Harmony. Arguably much more robust than BSC, xDai, or any other Ethereum layer 2 chain.

So what the hell is Harmony?

Harmony is and insanely fast blockchain capable of running any Ethereum application with gas fees less than a penny and 2 second transaction finality. It is a full Proof of Stake chain with sharding and cross chain compatibility with 5 different other blockchains. The native token on Harmony is the ONE token, which is also used to pay the gas fees for transactions. If you can even call it a "fee" on Harmony is debatable since the standard gas fee is 0.001 ONE, a FRACTION of a penny. If you've never used it, you're truly missing out on experiencing what Ethereum 2.0 is going to be like. Insanely fast and cheap. I use it for staking and yield farming without spending hundred of dollars on gas fees.

Harmony as an Ethereum layer 2 solution

Here's some stats comparing Harmony to other Ethereum layer 2 solutions. Data speaks volumes. Harmony should be the go-to layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum.

On top of being the perfect layer 2 solution, Harmony's cross chain compatibility is amazing. It can connect any Proof of Stake and Proof of Work chain in a highly efficient manner. You're able to keep using Metamask or your Ledger without insane fees. All Ethereum wallets or portals are compatible with no changes. How cool is that? I recommend visiting the website and digging into the details.

Ok, so how do I use Harmony?

Using Harmony is very simple. Of course there are specific wallets built for Harmony, but using Metamask seems to be the easiest. Plus, you can have all your blockchains in one wallet instead of having to use different wallets for Ethereum, BSC, and Harmony.

Step 1:

At this point, I assume you've used Metamask and already have it set up for use with Ethereum or BSC. If not, check out my previous article mentioned at the top to get started. Once you have Metamask ready to go, click on the Ethereum Mainnet drop down menu and select Custom RPC.

Step 2:

Fill out the network details below under Mainnet. I recommend using Shard 0 for your setup.

Step 3:

There's not much of a step 3, just make sure you've filled out the info correctly as shown below and click save.

You're now ready to use Harmony with Metamask!

Check out the official documentation for tons more information here.

You're set up to use SushiSwap with zero fees now!

Check out the yield farms on there and you'll see why using Harmony makes so much sense.

Thanks for reading.

Peace.