I guess I’ll start from the beginning as this has been one of the most frustrating overall financial experiences I’ve ever had. I began with transferring $100 into my Coinbase account from my bank using an ACH. There was no fee for this. They defaulted as USDC which is a stable coin equal to $1.
Once the funds were in my Coinbase account, I wanted to transfer them to my MetaMask account as ETH to be used. I first tried to convert those funds in Coinbase to ETH prior to moving them, but the fees I was being quoted exceeded my measly $100 which I didn’t understand.
Then, I tried to simply transfer the funds into MetaMask as USDC directly which cost close to $12, but it was much better than the other quotes I was getting, so I did this leaving $88 some odd dollars as USDC in MetaMask.
Once in my MetaMask account, I once again tried to do the swap in MetaMask using the swap button. However, I was back to being quoted fees that were in excess of the total amount which meant that I would owe money just to complete the swap! Therefore, the money has just sat in the account after several attempts. I even tried to move the USDC back to Coinbase for a fee similar to what I paid originally effectively costing me 25% of the money, but at least I could use it again. However, I was back to the fees exceeding the transfer amount. How is it possible that I can move money from Coinbase to MetaMask for ~12%, but to do it the other way would cost more than 100% of the transfer amount!?
This last step is the one I started with here. Since there was a send option in MetaMask, I used my wallet address from which it said I could send the money to the wallet as USDC to ETH, and the fee it was charging me was like $25. Again, eating up more than a third of my original $100, but at least I could use the money as ETH. However, instead of sending the funds as ETH, it simply debited the fees from my ETH amount, no transfer actually took place, I’m down the $25 fee, and I STILL have $88 of USDC from which I can’t seem to use/get access to under any circumstances!
Like I said, I’ve never seen anything like this where the fees are so excessive that you can’t move, transfer, or do anything with your own money! There are no clear disclosures, explanation of fees, clear communication on what’s happening, or anything!
All I really wanted to do was transfer $100 from Coinbase to MetaMask as ETH to use it for purchases. Now, I’m essentially out more than $125 at this point due to this completely opaque system. I just need somebody to help me recover/access my funds. None of these topics being provided explain how to do this easily or cost effectively as the costs are neither clear nor disclosed up front in an understandable manner to avoid mistakes, errors, or losses. If what I was trying to do was never possible in the first place, then it shouldn’t have indicated that I was converting USDC to ETH utilizing the send to a wallet, email, etc. option in MetaMask. This is a tool/systematic failure of MetaMask due to a lack of sufficient controls/safety measures being in place.
