Crypto Journey

Well, this is a big surprise. It appears GameStop, the meme stock, just went live with their NFT website.

It doesn't have much except that they're looking to hire a team. 

What's really intriguing is that there's an Ethereum wallet address (0x13374200c29C757FDCc72F15Da98fb94f286d71e) -- a subtle nod to the gaming crowd: 1337 = leet (as in elite) and 420 = well, weed.

Clever redditors have pointed out that GameStop is looking to launch their own ERC-20 token in July. Click here for a more in-depth analysis.

I've been a firm HODLer believer since I got started with crypto (which is only a few months), but with the quick rise in BAT, I feel it's time for me to temporarily unload my holdings. This is my first time transferring an ERC-20 token to Gemini so I had to spend gas on the Ethereum network. A few takeaways:

• Gas is used to fuel all ERC-20 transfers
• You pay Gas in ETH, despite transferring ERC-20 tokens
• Gas prices fluctuate every single minute, so what you saw as "normal gas prices" when sending your transfer may change by the time it reaches the Ethereum network
• Failed transfers consume gas, but you still get to keep your ERC-20 (those don't leave your wallet)

Some helpful resources to find out how much gas to spend based on real world tracking:

https://etherscan.io/gastracker

https://www.ethgasstation.info/index.php

I am trying to understand how Ethereum manages accounts and addresses. Unlike Bitcoin which you can generate an unlimited number of addresses, it seems you can only create one Ethereum address if you wish to spend it in one transaction. 

My understanding is that with Bitcoin you can send bitcoin from multiple addresses as long as it is coming from one account. Ethereum, on the hand, seems to only have one account, one address. To make matters more confusing, you can have ERC-20 tokens (e.g., BAT) transact using an ETH address. Before I transferred BAT from Gemini to my Trezor wallet, I was perturbed because it seemed illogical -- how can one type of coin get transferred to a different address? I had read stories of people losing their bitcoins forever due to carelessness in mixing up other cryptocurrency addresses (e.g., sending BTC to an ETH address) and I was determined not to make that mistake. When my BAT transaction using an ETH address went through, I was elated! This is such an interesting discovery for me but for someone who is 100% brand new to crypto, this can seem very confusing and off-putting. 

I am going to learn more about how Ethereum and ERC-20 handles transactions in the coming weeks.

Edit: Based on this Reddit thread, it's normal for Ethereum to have only one address per wallet.