Welcome to the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Today we’re looking at MetaMask Setup.

MetaMask is NZRT’s browser-based crypto wallet, and it plays a specific role in the blockchain workflow — it’s used for testnet deployment and transaction signing. If you’re working on anything in the ITE or blockchain space, this is the tool you’ll need to get familiar with.

Let’s start with installation. Head over to metamask.io and install the MetaMask browser extension. Once that’s done, you’re not going to be creating a brand new wallet. Instead, you’ll be importing an existing one using a seed phrase. That seed phrase is stored securely in the vault under ITE, then Blockchain, then MM-Seed. Retrieve that phrase, use it to import the wallet, and you’re ready to move on to network configuration.

MetaMask doesn’t include the Base network out of the box, so you’ll probably need to add it manually. That said, it’s worth checking Settings, then Networks first, because MetaMask sometimes detects and auto-adds Base for you. Save yourself a step if it’s already there.

There are two Base networks to set up. The first is Base Mainnet. When you go to add a custom network in MetaMask, you’ll be filling in five fields. The network name is Base. The RPC URL is the mainnet.base.org address using HTTPS. The Chain ID is 8453. The currency symbol is ETH. And the block explorer URL is basescan.org, also using HTTPS.

The second network is Base Sepolia, which is the testnet environment. Same process, just different values. The network name is Base Sepolia. The RPC URL is sepolia.base.org using HTTPS. The Chain ID is 84532 — that’s eight, four, five, three, two. The currency symbol is still ETH. And the block explorer is sepolia.basescan.org using HTTPS.

With your networks in place, you may also need to export your private key, particularly when you’re working with Hardhat for smart contract deployment. To do that, open MetaMask, go to your Account, click the three-dot menu, then select Account Details, and choose Show Private Key. Copy that value and paste it into your dot-env file, using PRIVATE underscore KEY as the variable name, with the key value prefixed by zero x. And here’s a rule with no exceptions: never commit that dot-env file to Git. Your private key must stay out of version control at all times.

Now for security, and this part really matters. This MetaMask wallet is a testnet deployer only. You should never send mainnet funds to it. When you need to operate on mainnet, that goes through Gnosis Safe, which is NZRT’s multisig setup for production use. As for the seed phrase, it’s stored offline — the full details are in the Key Security documentation in the vault.

If you want to go deeper on any of this, there are three related pages in the wiki worth reading: Gnosis Safe Multisig, Wallets and Keys, and Key Security. Between those three and this guide, you’ll have a solid picture of how NZRT manages its blockchain signing infrastructure.

That’s it for this episode of the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Thanks for listening.