Same address for eth and bsc on ledger?

I’m a bit confused. I use metamask with a ledger nano x and so far I have only been trading bep20 tokens. Now for the first time I bought some sand tokens on the eth network. In Metamask I can switch between the binance net and the etherum mainnet. In ledger live I also see two accounts, a bep20 account and an ethereum account. But it really confuses me that both of them are using the same address! In Metamask I switched to the ethereum mainnet and I was able to receive the sand tokens. They are now visible in Metamask and and also in ledger live on the Ethereum account. Here’s what troubles me though: I know that you should never send bep20 tokens to an eth address and vice versa. But how is this supposed to work if both accounts use the exact same address?? How do the tokens “know” the right account where they are supposed to go? I don’t want to risk a token loss. I appreciate any help.

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I understand that it can be a bit confusing :slight_smile:

You have accounts and then you have Networks. One account can have many Networks like Smart chain and Ethereum which are 2 Networks in the same account. The address is the same for all the networks in one account, and each account has a different address.

If you sent money using the Binance Smart Chain network, the money ends up in the Smart chain network, and if you sent using Ethereum network it ends up in the ethereum network.

I hope it makes sens :slight_smile:

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Thank you very much for your helpful eplanation which does make sens to me. But if it doesn’t matter if you send erc or bep20 tokens to the very same address (account), how come there are always warnings not to do so? Or what exactly would I have to do in order to lose my tokens? Would this happen if I tried to send an erc token over the bsc network? Is that even possible? Sorry, many questions :wink:

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You are welcome :slight_smile:

One address have many networks and it is important to keep the money on the network they belong to.

When you create your Metamask wallet you will have the Ethereum network as default and only that network. If you then sent some BNB to your wallet using the Binance Smart chain network, you can’t see your BNB in Metamask, because you can only see the Ethereum Network. But when you add the BSC Network to Metamask you will be able to see your money.

If you want to sent money from one wallet to another wallet, find out which network your money support and use that network.

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I can’t post link from outside this forum, but in the link above, this might be interesting for you:

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Oh great, thank you very much! Things are getting clearer now. :wink: before I read the link you gave me I wasn’t aware of the fact that some wallets only support either the ethereum or the bsc network! Since Metamask and ledger support both of them I didn’t realize that this wasn’t always the case.
Well I believe if cryptos are really supposed to become mainstream one day some things need to be simplified first :wink:

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