How can I start in DeFi with Stake DAO?

Stake DAO makes it really simple for anyone to start participating in DeFi, with our email-based login experience. The first time you enter your email, a new wallet is generated using Magic, and you enter the platform using a one-time link received in your inbox. The same procedure is followed for subsequent logins, keeping things passwordless and non-custodial. This way, neither Stake DAO or Magic will ever have access to your private key or funds, and your only responsibility would be to keep your email safe.

Alternatively, you can set up a wallet on your own using a reputed service such as MetaMask. In this case, follow the on-screen instructions to create a new address, and securely backup your private key and secret seed phrase. Then, open the exchange Dapp and connect your wallet (this simply enables the DEX to see your public address and doesn’t incur a gas fee). When you find the pair you want to trade, type in the amount and swap, and then you will have to confirm the transaction in your wallet. Be careful with the gas fee, though: if it’s high, you can consider setting it manually after checking the current average gas price on Etherscan or another similar website. Bear in mind that, the lower the fee, the longer it will take for the transaction to be confirmed.

If you’re buying a newly listed coin, one that isn’t on the DEX’s default list, you need to be extremely careful that you have the correct link to the trading pair. Make sure that you get it from the project’s official website or social media pages (and not just a page that looks like the official one) – anyone can create an ERC20 (or other chain) token, and there have been many cases where similar but completely worthless scam tokens have been sold to investors.