In this blog tutorial, we show you how to add the BOBA network to the MetaMask wallet. But first, we talk a bit about what BOBA is, what it does, etc. If that does not interest you can directly go and see how to add BOBA to MetaMask. You can go down this page and start reading “Getting BOBA on MetaMask” to learn how to add BOBA to MetaMask.
About BOBA Layer 2
The BOBA layer 2 sidechain works as an upgrade upon Ethereum. The layer 2 makes use of optimistic rollup technology. Anchoring the whole network into Ethereum and thus leveraging Ethereum’s security. This way BOBA can process transactions much cheaper and faster while letting you enjoy a similar environment to Ethereums. And not putting your tokens/coins at risk of an unsecured blockchain.
Because the network runs an EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) it uses the same token standards as on Eth. Making it so that you can bridge basically any token type from chain to chain. Even NFTs and game tokens. These can also be minted on the BOBA network and then later on bridged to the Eth mainchain. Making it cheaper to use NFTs and tokens.
Because of Boba’s sidechain features the network has seen rapid growth with at one point exceeding $600 million in TVL (Total Value Locked) on the network, according to DefiLama.
For more info on their sidechain network, check out their website.
Do I need BOBA to pay for transaction fees?
You might be thinking about how you can pay for transaction fees on this great layer 2 solution? Do you need their token? Or any other new specific token. Well, no you won’t need that. If you have used the Ethereum blockchain before and have some ETH on your account, you can simply bridge that over to the layer 2 and use it there. Because on the BOBA layer 2 network you only need ETH to pay for transaction fees. Their own token is rather used for some other thing which we look at later on.
Having no new token that people need to use the blockchain makes it much easier to adapt the layer 2. As existing Ethereum users can simply bridge their ETH tokens to the sidechain and start using it right away. And this without having to buy into a new token on the side. This is a similar way of paying for fees as on the Optimism and Arbitrum sidechain. Which will most likely boost interactions between these sidechains in the future as they all use ETH for gas fees.
However, all these Ethereum sidechain solutions could still change that rule in the future and start using their own token for gas fees. Although this is highly unlikely.
BOBA token
The BOBA network had already its own token since its launch of the network. This token is not used as a gas token but does come with some other features that make it interesting for fans of the sidechain network. Because their $BOBA token functions as the main governance token that controls the network and thus functions as voting power for control of the sidechain. What makes this even more interesting is that stakers of the $BOBA token receive a share of the transaction fees paid on the network. Making them linked to the success of the whole sidechain network. After the Ethereum layer 1 fees are paid.
This form of profit share will increase the dedication of their community and token holders, as they benefit from the growth of the network in the same way their team does.
Currently, the $BOBA token can be traded on some of the largest crypto markets in the world already. But not yet all of them. The markets where you can find their token include Bitfinex, FTX, Huobi Global, and of course their own DEX OolongSwap.
Bridging to BOBA
Just like all other EVM blockchains and sidechains, the BOBA network runs an EVM. This means that bridging between the EVM blockchain networks can easily be done. With the BOBA bridge, you can simply swap your tokens from Ethereum to the BOBA network layer 2. If you do this for the first time to get your ETH to the sidechain for paying gas fees. You will still have to pay the gas fee on Ethereum to bridge it to BOBA. Because you come from Ethereum you will probably pay a fee that cost $15+.
Please note, that if you want to switch to this cheaper and faster sidechain. You will have to use a bridge. You can not just simply send your ETH from your address to a new BOBA address. Because these networks run their own underlying network. You can however use the same address on Ethereum as on BOBA making it easy to switch between networks from within the same wallet. But to do this you will always need to use a crypto bridge.
Briding from Eth to BOBA can currently be done with their more secure layer 2 bridge but that takes some time. Or with their fast swap-based bridge that locks and releases tokens on either side.
Smart Contracts on BOBA
Developers that would like to deploy their Dapps onto the BOBA network do not need to worry. Because the sidechain runs its own EVM it can easily adopt smart contracts from other EVM compatible chains. Meaning that developers can also deploy their Dapps onto BOBA by only making a few small tweaks to the code. Which is much better than instead of building a new application from scratch.
This let many developers and companies already do so like DODO, Coin98, and many more. Including crypto wallets like Onto wallet and MEW.
Exploring BOBA
With many Dapps and users trying out or completely moving over to BOBA. A way to check if transactions go through and to see what you own is super important. That is way like almost any other blockchain. BOBA has its own block explorer. Here you can find all the transactions made on the network and those that are still pending. So you can make sure your transaction went through. And if it didn’t you can see why it didn’t. Besides that, you can find some interesting stats regarding the BOBA network. Like the fact that already more than 20.000 people created an address on the sidechain.
Wallets that support BOBA
One of the things that has helped all EVM chains grow so much is the fact that they can all use the same EVM wallets. With wallets like Metamask, MEW, Bitpie, and many others that have the option to add and custom RPC. This means you can simply add a new EVM network yourself. So in the case of BOBA, you can just add it yourself as we will explain down below.
Besides these wallets that allow you to add a custom EVM, some wallets also just integrated the BOBA network by themselves. You can find these wallets all in our “wallet finder” feature here for either mobile, desktop, web, or hardware wallets.
This list of wallets will probably grow into the future along with the BOBA ecosystem. And we will do our best to keep them up to date with all the relevant BOBA wallets.
Now that you are all informed let’s add BOBA to your wallet!
Getting Boba on MetaMask
So to add the BOBA to MetaMask you have to open the MetaMask wallet (In case you don’t have MetaMask yet, please get it on this page).
Once you have MetaMask installed, open it up on the full screen. So you will have the same screen as in our example here.
Now go to the top right of the screen where it says “Ethereum Mainnet” and click on the little arrow pointing down next to it. This opens the network’s tap where you can select all different types of EVM blockchains (Ethereum virtual machine) networks. Now here you can click on the Custom RPC to add a new custom EVM blockchain network of your choice. In this case, BOBA.
Now Metamask will ask you for the data needed to connect the wallet to BOBA. Please fill in the list below.
Network Name - BOBA
New RPC URL - https://mainnet.boba.network
Chain ID - 288
Symbol - ETH
Block Explorer URL - https://blockexplorer.boba.network
When you have done this, you can just click save. And now you have added BOBA to your MetaMask wallet.
If you would like to switch between the EVM blockchains. Simply click on the Network button in the top right of the screen to select another blockchain.
Because adding different types of EVM blockchains works the same, you can add any EVM blockchain in the same way. But instead of the list given in this blog, you replace that with another network’s ChainID, symbol, etc.
We hope this blog post helped you to integrate a new EVM into your MetaMask crypto wallet. So that you can now use BOBA as much as you want.
Find your wallet here
In case you want to see all the other wallets supporting BOBA. You can simply take a look here to filter between all wallets that do!
So we hope this article taught you more about how to add BOBA to MetaMask wallet. But in case you have Questions regarding Crypto or Ethereum? Feel free to ask them on our socials. Because we are happy to help whenever we can or write about it in our next blog.
So now that you know How to add BOBA to MetaMask, are you ready to start using your own Blockchain wallet? Take a look at our unique wallet finder functions here! So you can find the perfect wallet for your blockchain.
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