Stablecoins and Collecting Games
Stablecoins and Collecting Games
Ethereum is building the Web 3.0. We'll show you how to surf the Web3.0 in minutes using the Metamask browser extension: We buy DAI stablecoins on a remote exchange, catching fish with a dapp game, and looking at other dapps. The handling is great - but the applications are sometimes sobering. A foray into screenshots.
On the one hand, it is wonderful what Ethereum has achieved in a few years: there is already a universe of decentralized applications (Dapps), and also the tools to make it playfully easy to use. The Web3.0, the decentralized Internet, is already under construction. However, if you start to try it out, you will soon realize that most dapps are not overly attractive. We introduce our excursion to Web3.0 in a series of annotated screenshots.
The start
The browser app Metamask is the most important tool to get into the Web3.0. The minimized Ethereum Wallet is available for the browsers Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Brave. It's the most user-friendly, intuitive-to-use cryptocurrency software I know, but it can do a lot of smart contracts under the hood.
After selecting a password you are in the minimalistic wallet. There is a seed that you should write down or save, and with which you can restore your wallet in any browser. In addition, you can also export the private key to import it into a full Ethereum wallet, such as Parity. Metamask is neither very safe nor kind of private. But it's the easiest way to interact with Web 3.0.
By clicking on the three dots on the top right you can copy its Ethereum address to fill it with Ether.
On Bitcoin.de you can buy with Euro Ether. Then I insert the address of Metamask in the payout form of Bitcoin.de and enter password and Yubikey one-time password. Then I wait for the ethers to arrive.
Two minutes later, Metamask reports 0.5 ether or $ 72. For security, I check my account at Etherscan.io. It's easy, there's a direct link if you click on the three dots in the upper right corner. So my wallet is ready for the Web3.0. It did not take ten minutes.
Buy stablecoins on a decentralized exchange
The first dapp I want to use is a decentralized exchange. At 0xtracker.com I look for the currently most popular exchanges based on the 0x protocol.
Most volume listed Star Bit from Asia. But since I can not handle the user interface, I go to the second largest exchange, DDEX.
Here I find myself coping relatively quickly. The site automatically interacts with Metamask and detects my wallet. To use them, I have to connect Metamask with DDEX. As with all exchanges based on the 0x protocol, my Metamask address acts as an account. I do not need a name and email, just my Metamask account to trade tokens on Ethereum. I think that's a pretty revolutionary concept.
Then I have to convert my ETH into WETH. These are Wrapped Ether. If I understand it correctly, I'm just putting the ethers into a token-like state so that they can be processed in the same environment as all the tokens that exist on DDEX. The "wrapping" of the ethers is done through a transaction that I sign with Metamask
After a few seconds, the transaction is confirmed and DDEX shows my balance, which now consists of about 0.15 ETH and 0.35 WETH.
On the DDEX marketplace, I can now swap my WETH for dozens of tokens. I do not know most of them; I assume they are the descendants of ICOs. In the future, you may be able to buy stocks, ETFs and other securities in such marketplaces. It would definitely be possible.
Until then, the Stablecoin DAI seems to me the most attractive choice. Behind DAI stands a DAO - a decentralized autonomous organization - which uses a set of smart contracts to ensure that a DAI is always worth about a dollar. That's pretty brilliant, a stablecoin without a middleman to trust, and apparently it works pretty well. So I sell a little WETH against some DAI.
To seal the trade, I have to sign a transaction again with Metamask. I wait a few minutes for someone to accept my offer. Then I own over 44 DAI tokens.
Now I would like to see these tokens in Metamask. For this I have to click on tokens and add a new token there. I am looking for the smart contract of DAI at Etherscan.io and then enter its address at Metamask. Lo and behold, I have the DAI tokens in my wallet.
Play in the Web 3.0
Now I want to experience more. Decentralized exchanges are great, but only a small part of the Web3.0. The websites DappRadar, App.co, Dapp.com and StateoftheDapps.com show a selection of the most popular Dapps, arranged according to several categories. In addition to the decentralized exchanges games and "collectibles" seem to be the most popular applications, with the two categories like to merge.
The best known example of this is CryptoKitties, the Dapp, where you breed kittens and then sell or mate to breed more kittens. Similar games are available in large quantities. While the tokens traded on the exchanges or used for ICOs are typically based on the ERC20 fungible token standard, the collecting games use the ERC 721 non-fungible token standard. This standard has led to a blast of collecting games for Ethereum.
First, I try God's Unchained. The game looks a bit like Magic: The Gathering, the popular card game. I used to play this very rarely, but with a lot of fun. So I log in the usual way by signing a short message with Metamask and then look around. For 0,012 ETH (about 2 Euro) I can buy a simple starter pack with maps. I sign a transaction and get a package with 5 simple cards. I would have to buy more and better playing cards for more ETH.
In support, I learn that so far on Gods Unchained only the cards are sold, but playing is not yet possible. But in the future Gods Unchained should work like a Magic: The Gathering, but only completely through Smart Contracts. So first I try to show the maps in my Metamask app.
This works again in the familiar way: click on tokens and on "Add new Token", then I enter the address of the Smart Contracts of Gods Unchained (which I have googled before) and I already have the five tokens in the wallet. Terrific.
But because I want to play too, I look for another game. I discover the fishbank.
To log in, I enter my password at Metamask. Then I can either buy fish at the market or cast the fishing rod to catch a random fish. Because I find the prices in the market place incredibly high (there is hardly a fish for less than 5 euros), I try my luck: I sign a transaction to trigger the fishing smart contract. At the first try I catch a jellyfish, at the second a shrimp, and at the third I'm lucky and catch a marlin.
The fish have different values: strength, agility, speed and weight in ounces. If you click on the info button, you can either sell the fish, send it into combat or merge.
First I attack a squid with my jellyfish. The jellyfish is much slower, but also stronger than this. As usual, I initiate the fight with a transaction that costs a bit of fees in ETH. Unfortunately, I lose the fight. The result is that my jellyfish lose a few ounces of weight and the squid wins.
Later I let my swordfish compete against a prussian fish. My swordfish wins, its weight increases. What the weight brings, however, does not quite open up to me. Because the game is getting a bit boring, I try to sell my fish. But no one accepts the offer, although I am much cheaper than the others. Too bad.
Dozens more games ...
There are many more games. If you are interested, you can click on DappRadar sites like the Dapps. You can breed monsters, collect baseball cards, buy plots in a virtual city, collect virtual punks, and so much more.
But most of them did not knock me off so much, and most of all, most of them you can buy are overpriced: A punk is not below 0.1 ETH, a parcel in the virtual city can only be mana Buy tokens (which you can buy on a decentralized stock exchange), which I do not feel like doing. Since the transactions often cost not a few fees - between 10 cents and 2 euros - playing with Dapps is quite quickly an expensive fun.
There are a few other Dapps, but they do not seem to be as advanced as the games. Therefore, I do not agree. Here it remains only to note that Ethereum has found a means to digitize individual items for games and collectors copy proof. This is not the big revolution the world has been waiting for, but it is an interesting move that may well be picked up and developed by the serious gaming companies in the years to come.
In addition, the two methods described here could be blueprints for the future: in decentralized marketplaces, stocks and more are traded, while non-fungible tokens represent real estate, antiques, or intellectual property. The potential is huge in any case. But to make the most of it, Ethereum must still work on solving the problem with scalability. Because operating a full node for Etheruem is becoming more and more of a problem for normal users.
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