MyEtherWallet (MEW) is a free open source interface for generating Ethereum wallets for Ether and ERC20 Tokens.When you use MEW with a hardware wallet, MEW serves as the interface that allows you to send and receive coins and view your balances. The private key that is used to own all of your digital assets will still be stored offline on your hardware wallet.This guide will show you how to use MEW with the following hardware wallets: Ledger Nano S, Ledger Nano X, Ledger Blue, Trezor Model T and Trezor One. These hardware wallets support all Ethereum, Ethereum Classic and all ERC20 tokens. You will need to have first initialized your hardware wallet.
You will be prompted to choose which hardware wallet you are using.
Once you connect your Ledger or Trezor device, the instructions for using MyEtherWallet with your hardware wallet are the same.
Sending and Receiving Ethereum Assets
Select an address. You can receive your Ether and all of your various ERC20 tokens into one address, or you can use multiple addresses. The address or addresses you choose do not matter.
Click “To Access My Wallet, I Accept Terms,” and then “Access My Wallet.”
You can now view your balances and send and receive assets.
To receive Ethereum assets into your hardware wallet, copy your “Account Address” and paste this address into the wallet or exchange your Ethereum assets are being stored in, and then click send. (Note that this is the same address that you selected in the previous step). Under the address you can click “Display address on your device” to have this address display on your hardware wallet’s screen. You can then confirm that the address on your hardware wallet matches the address that you have pasted into the exchange or wallet.
To send Ethereum assets from your hardware wallet to another wallet or an individual, then you will need the receiving public address.
Click on Send in the Menu to the left and then paste the address under “To Address.”
Select the Amount, the Coin (Under “Type”) and the transaction fee.
You can use the default Transaction fee and Gas Limit (under “Advanced) that is provided or you can customize this.
When you are ready to send, click on “Send Transaction.”
As explained earlier, you can send all of your ERC20 tokens to the same public address that is being displayed under “Address.”
Under where it says Tokens, there is a long list of ERC20 tokens in alphabetical order where you can see your various token balances.
How to Add a Custom Token
MEW supports all ERC20 tokens and Ethereum based assets. If a token is not listed under the “Show All Tokens” list, than you can still store it on your hardware wallet using MEW.
Click on “+Custom Tokens.”
Then in a new tab, open either etherscan.io or ethplorer.io (the process is the same for each site). This will open a new tab.
As an example we will add the custom token IHF (Invictus Hyperion Fund).
In the search bar, type in the abbreviation of the token (in this case IHF). The full name of the token will be displayed. Click on the full name.
Highlight and copy the contact address and take note of the decimals.
Now go back to the MEW tab you left open.
In “Token Contract Address,” paste in the contract address that you just copied.
Enter the token abbreviation for “Token Symbol.”
Enter the “Decimals” number that was displayed in etherscan or ethplorer.
Then click “Save.”
You have now added a custom ERC20k token. If you have sent an amount to your hardware wallet, then the balance will be displayed. The balance of this custom token should now automatically be displayed when you login to MEW with your hardware wallet.
Paying the Transaction Fee and Selecting the Gas Limit and Gas Price.
Ethereum is a network known as a blockchain and Ether is the asset that is the fuel for this network. Whenever you send Ether, send ERC20 tokens or interact with a contract, you need to pay a transaction fee (TX fee).This TX fee is measured in “Gas” and it is paid in Ether. The total cost of a TX fee is the Gas Limit * Gas Price. Whenever you make a transaction with MEW, you will need to have at least a small amount of Ether within that address to cover the TX fee.If you are trying to send an Ethereum asset from your hardware wallet (using MEW) and you get the error: “Cannot send due to Insufficient funds,” it means you do not have enough Ether available in that address.A standard TX fee for sending Ether will be 0.00042 ETH and for sending ERC20 tokens will be 0.001 ETH – 0.002 ETH.An easy solution is to send 0.01 ETH to the MEW “Account Address” of your hardware wallet (this is referring to the same public address that you use to receive all Ethereum assets into your hardware wallet). You will now have enough Ether for any transaction.You will notice that you can change the Gas Limit. For sending Ether, you can use the default 21000. For sending an ERC20 token, you can use the amount that MEW automatically recommends. If the recommended amount for an ERC20 token is not enough and an error occurs, then you can change the Gas Limit to 200000 (five zeroes). You do not need to worry about a higher fee, because extra Gas that is not used, and the Ether that pays for it, will be returned to your wallet.You have the option to select a higher transaction fee (AKA Gas Price) to have the transaction complete faster or a lower transaction fee but have the transaction complete slower. The transaction fee is measured in Gwei which is a small unit of Ether: 1 Ethereum is worth 1 Billion Gwei.
Conclusion
You now have all the information necessary to use MyEtherWallet with a Trezor or a Ledger hardware wallet! If you do not already have a hardware wallet, take the first and most critical step of securing your Ethereum assets now by purchasing one.
