whytheblockchain

FREE CRYPTO WALLET SIMULATOR

Send. Observe.
Understand.

Two fictional wallets. Four networks. Six missions to understand what actually changes when you send crypto.

Open the practice wallets

WTB simulator, independent of MetaMask. No real money, keys or wallet connection. Never enter a recovery phrase here.

After this lesson: Separate app, account, network and asset by observing both sides of a transfer.

Choose your explanation

01 / BEGINNER

First, what is it?

This practice wallet represents fictional accounts. Choose an asset and network, then observe balances before and after. A real wallet prepares and authorises operations; the network records their effects. Here everything stays in the page with no money or real connection.

Words to know

Account
Alice or Sam in this exercise; their identifiers are fictional.
Asset
BTC, ETH, BNB or USDC: what you send.
Network
The environment in which the balance is viewed and changed.

The idea to understand

Six missions build a progression: simple transfer, token/fee distinction and network choice. Read the result and explanation after each operation; completing a click is not enough to understand what changed.

SEE IT IN PRACTICE

Now, a concrete example

In the ETH mission, Alice sends to Sam on Ethereum. Received amount and fees are separate. In the USDC mission, watch two of Alice’s balances: the sent token and the native fee asset.

YOUR TURN

Why can the same account show several ETH balances?

Form an answer before opening the explanation. You can also discuss it aloud.

Compare with the explanation

Because networks are separate. The exercise makes this visible without real transfers: an action on one network does not automatically change another network’s balance.

3 explanation levels

Start with the essentials, then choose how far to go.

THE SHORT ANSWER

A wallet is an app for using accounts on one or more networks. A simple transfer moves an asset on the same network: it does not convert it or change its blockchain. Try it here with entirely fictional balances.

01

The wallet app

MetaMask is a real example. One app can manage accounts on several networks, including Bitcoin. Its interface is not the network itself.

02

The account and address

An address identifies a destination. With an ordinary account controlled by the same key, an Ethereum-compatible address can stay the same across several networks. Bitcoin uses different address formats.

03

The network and asset

Ethereum / ETH. BNB Smart Chain / BNB. Bitcoin / BTC. The native asset is the network’s own currency, normally used for its fees. USDC is a token available on several networks. A matching asset symbol or address is not enough to select a deposit network.

Your practice space

0 / 6 missions explained

YOUR MISSION

Your first transfer

Alice wants to send 0.05 ETH to Sam on Ethereum. Read both balances, prepare the transfer, then compare what each person gains or loses.

A hint before trying

Choose Ethereum on both sides, ETH and 0.05. Alice pays the fee on top: Sam receives the full sent amount in this model.

01 / SEND FROM

Alice

DEMO-ALICE-EVMFictional identifier, unusable on a network

Choose the asset to send · fictional balances

ETH

Fictional fee, paid separately: 0.00042 ETHon Ethereum

All four networks · Alice

Separate balances, even when the asset or account identifier is the same.

Ethereum
0.2 ETH120 USDC
BNB Smart Chain
1 BNB
Bitcoin
0.01 BTC
Base
0.02 ETH30 USDC

02 / RECEIVE WITH

Sam

DEMO-SAM-EVMFictional identifier, unusable on a network

Balances shown on Ethereum

ETH
0.01
USDC
5
All four networks · Sam

Separate balances, even when the asset or account identifier is the same.

Ethereum
0.01 ETH5 USDC
BNB Smart Chain
0.2 BNB
Bitcoin
0.001 BTC
Base
0.005 ETH5 USDC

Same network selected: Ethereum. You still need to review the asset, amount and fees.

Changing mission or resetting reloads fictional balances. Progress stays only while this page is open; reloading or leaving clears it.

What this model does — and its limits

  • Balances and identifiers are invented. They cannot receive funds. No real account, address, token contract or transaction is checked.
  • Fees are fixed teaching values, paid in the network’s native asset, on top of the sent amount. They are not current quotes. Some real wallets support alternative or sponsored fee payment.
  • This is a simplified balance model. Bitcoin’s spendable pieces of money (UTXOs) and change outputs, real confirmation times, swaps (asset exchanges) and bridges (cross-network transfers) are not simulated. No asset is automatically converted.
  • The exercise uses at most 8 decimal places for ETH, BNB and BTC, and 6 for USDC. Real ETH and BNB support more precision. Selecting an asset here assumes its identity; in real use, verify the token and network supported by the recipient.
  • The network mismatch block is a teaching guard. A real app may let an EVM transfer proceed on an unintended network. Whether it is accessible afterwards depends on who controls the destination and on the receiving service.
All six missions, hints and explanations

1. Your first transfer

Alice wants to send 0.05 ETH to Sam on Ethereum. Read both balances, prepare the transfer, then compare what each person gains or loses.

Choose Ethereum on both sides, ETH and 0.05. Alice pays the fee on top: Sam receives the full sent amount in this model.

Explanation: Alice: 0.2 − 0.05 − 0.00042 = 0.14958 ETH. Sam: 0.01 + 0.05 = 0.06 ETH. The 0.00042 ETH fee does not go to Sam. It represents the fictional network cost.

2. BNB is not Ethereum

Send 0.1 BNB from Alice to Sam on BNB Smart Chain. Sam is still viewing Ethereum. Same account name, wrong network view: what should you check?

Here, Sam controls his account on both networks. Select BNB Smart Chain in his receiving panel. His ETH on Ethereum stay unchanged.

Explanation: Sam receives BNB on BNB Smart Chain, not ETH on Ethereum. An app can display several networks; a simple transfer does not exchange the asset or move it between networks.

3. The Bitcoin network

Alice sends 0.002 native BTC to Sam on Bitcoin. Prepare a Bitcoin receipt, then compare its identifier with the one used for Ethereum-compatible networks.

Select Bitcoin in both panels. This mission’s native BTC stays on Bitcoin. A token representing bitcoin on Ethereum would be a different asset.

Explanation: Bitcoin is the network; BTC is its native asset. A multichain app can also manage a Bitcoin account. A token such as WBTC on Ethereum is not a native BTC balance on Bitcoin. Fees here are invented; real Bitcoin fees depend in particular on transaction size and the fee rate per unit of size.

4. USDC, but on which network?

Sam expects 10 USDC on Base, but Alice holds them on Ethereum. Try the preview. For this exercise, Sam then agrees to receive them on Ethereum: prepare that transfer.

Keep Alice on Ethereum, select Ethereum for Sam and send 10 USDC. Only changing Alice’s view would show a different balance; it would not move her 120 USDC.

Explanation: The same USDC symbol can exist on several networks, with distinct contracts. Sam agreed to Ethereum here: his Ethereum USDC balance increases; his Base balance stays at 5. If he required Base, this transfer would not meet his request; a suitable separate process would be needed, outside this simulator.

5. USDC, but no ETH here

Alice holds 120 USDC on Ethereum, but no ETH on that network. She does have ETH on Base. Try sending 10 USDC. Understand the block, then use the offered fictional ETH credit.

This model pays fees in ETH on Ethereum. After the block, add 0.005 fictional ETH using the teaching button, then preview again. Nothing is taken from Base.

Explanation: The sent USDC and the ETH fee are two separate debits. ETH on Base does not directly pay for an Ethereum transfer. This model uses standard native-asset payment; some apps also offer fees paid via another token or sponsored fees, depending on the operation.

6. Send it all… and the fee?

Alice wants to send as much as possible of her 0.2 ETH on Ethereum. Try 0.2: why is it blocked? Adjust the amount to reserve this exercise’s fixed fee.

0.2 − 0.00042 = 0.19958 ETH. “Maximum after fee” does this calculation using the fictional rate. In a real app, review the estimate again before confirming.

Explanation: With this fixed fee, 0.19958 ETH is received and 0.00042 ETH pays the fee: Alice ends at zero. Real fees vary and apps may reserve a buffer. A “maximum” button does not guarantee the same cost in reality.

Sources and further reading

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