I've heard about METAMASK Portfolio for quite some time now... since it was launched earlier his year. But I've never really gotten around to trying it out, I was in a sort of love-hate relationship with the Ethereum ecosystem of batched bookmarks and vaguely remembered locations for what protocols that I had interacted with. It wasn't great... but it sort of worked. But I would constantly find myself forgetting where things where... and they would be lost to the recesses of my memory... until I poked through the block explorer to find a weird transaction that I would chase up and find some long lost LP interaction or some sort of staking.
Anyway, I have long wished for something that was a single place for at least a few of the interactions that I would have with the Ethereum ecosystem... especially with the explosion of different L2s and now even L3s, it was getting harder and harder to figure out where to trade and who to bridge with... and if I did remember where to go, it was hard to do a quick price comparison to make sure I wasn't being gouged by LP fees or things like that.
So, on the recently launched Linea voyage... they directed you to the Metamask Portfolio site (easily accessible from the Metamask Chrome App) to complete the bridging process! And wow, it was a pretty easy process... select your networks and tokens/coins that you wanted to bridge, and it would throw up an easy to parse list of various bridging providers... from the canonical bridges, to the familiar names of Stargate, Celer, and Hop... through to a bunch of ones that weren't quite as well known.
Select one, and authorise the transaction! Easy! It has been a while since I've used a crypto protocol that was quite so streamlined and user friendly... and sure, Metamask probably takes a little fee for the convenience... but oh man, the convenience of not needing to figure out the various bridging protocols, wondering if they are still properly running, and then just eating whatever rate you are offered without the ability to compare easily. This is a huge step up... and I will happily pay the small fee for that service!
Anyway... long story short, I'm hooked on Metamask Portfolio for the bridging experience, and I have to say that the various "basic" functions of ETH staking and the sending and receiving of tokens is a nice upgrade from the regular metamask experience. Plus, a decent way to track your holdings across multiple chains and wallets!
Sure, I will still use as my fee-less bounce point for getting tokens around, but for the on-chain stuff... this is a pretty decent alternative!
Something else that I've never really used much is the fiat to crypto (and the reverse) route... it is good that it is there, I tend not to use it... but I can see that this will be a really useful feature for newcomers.
Metamask does seem to be trying to fix up the user pain points in crypto... this one-stop portfolio management and cross-Ethereum hub is a great start! I'm really looking forward to seeing how this develops into the future!
I can also be found cross-posting at:
Publish0x
Handy Crypto Tools
Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
: The centralised version of WooFi. Stake WOO for fee-free trades and free withdrawals! This link also gives you back 25% of the commission.
: Decentralised perpetual futures trading on Arbitrum!
: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
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: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
: I still use this exchange to take part in the Spotlight and Burning Drop launches.
