How to Buy Crypto and Send It to Your Wallet

Where to Buy Crypto

You need an exchange to turn dollars into crypto. Think of it as a currency exchange at the airport.

Popular exchanges:

• Coinbase (easiest for beginners, US-friendly)
• Kraken (low fees, global)
• Binance (largest, not available in all US states)

We will use Coinbase as the example. The steps are similar on other exchanges.

Step 1: Buy ETH on Coinbase

1. Create an account on coinbase.com
2. Verify your identity (required by law)
3. Add a payment method (bank account or debit card)
4. Buy ETH (Ethereum)

Bank transfers have the lowest fees. Debit cards are faster but cost a bit more.

Step 2: Find Your MetaMask Address

1. Open MetaMask
2. Make sure you are on the Base network
3. Click your address at the top to copy it

Your address looks like this: 0x1234...abcd

Step 3: Send ETH to Base

Coinbase supports sending directly to Base. This saves you money on fees.

1. In Coinbase, click "Send"
2. Paste your MetaMask address
3. Choose the amount
4. Important: Select Base as the network
5. Review and confirm

The ETH will arrive in your MetaMask in a few minutes.

Step 4: Check Your Balance

Open MetaMask. You should see your ETH balance on Base.

You need a tiny bit of ETH for transaction fees (called "gas"). Gas on Base costs less than $0.01 per transaction. So even $1 of ETH covers hundreds of transactions.

What About Stablecoins?

Some Snuggle pools use USDC (a stablecoin worth $1). You can:

• Buy USDC directly on Coinbase and send it to Base
• Swap ETH for USDC on Base using a DEX (we cover this in a later lesson)

For your first deposit, ETH is the simplest. Many pools accept ETH directly.

What You Learned

• Buy ETH on an exchange like Coinbase
• Send it to your MetaMask address on the Base network
• Keep a small amount of ETH for gas fees (under $1 is enough)