Guide: How to take part in a Starter IDO on Polygon

A step-by-step guide on how to take part in a Starter IDO on Polygon (MATIC)

10 min readJun 27, 2021

If you are new to Polygon, IDOs, or crypto in general and want to get involved in the upcoming private and public presales on the Starter platform, then this guide will walk you through everything you need…

What do I need?

Currently, you require three tokens to take part in any Starter IDO on Polygon:

START & QUICK (for LP), and MATIC.

MATIC is the network token of Polygon (like ETH is to Ethereum). START is the token of our platform, Starter. And QUICK is the token of our partner in the Polygon ecosystem, QuickSwap.

These are the 3 reasons you will need each of these tokens to take part in an IDO on Starter:

1. Qualify for an IDO

Eligibility to take part in IDOs on Starter will not work in the same way as it does on Binance Smart Chain. To be eligible for Polygon IDOs on Starter.XYZ, you will need to stake QUICK/START LP (Liquidity Pool Tokens) on the QuickSwap Liquidity Mining section of the website.

To obtain QUICK/START LP tokens you must visit Quickswap.Exchange and add equal amounts of START and QUICK token to the liquidity pool — in return for adding these two tokens you will be given QUICK/START LP tokens. You can exchange your QUICK/START LP tokens for your QUICK and START tokens on the QuickSwap DEX at any time (dependent on current values).

Here is a shortcut to the QUICK/START Liquidity Pool on QuickSwap DEX:
https://quickswap.exchange/#/quick/0x6Ccf12B480A99C54b23647c995f4525D544A7E72/0x831753DD7087CaC61aB5644b308642cc1c33Dc13/0xB1B2e2b4cBED8e7b6FF7Cca016760ccA9260f0Ec

A step-by-step guide on how to do this can be found further down the guide.

2. Gas Fees

In the same way that BNB is used to pay for the gas fees of your transactions on Binance Smart Chain, MATIC token is needed for payment of your gas fees on Polygon. Therefore, you will always need a little MATIC in your wallet to pay for the gas fees of a transaction to buy or claim tokens in a Starter IDO.

If you are buying QUICK on Polygon for the first time, you will probably also need MATIC to buy it. We go into detail on how to get MATIC on Polygon below.

3. Currency to Buy in IDOs on Starter

Starter allows the IDO creator to choose the token they want to raise their funds in. The token they choose will be the token that Starters are required to use to buy IDO tokens (and therefore have in their wallet) — on Polygon, these are currently limited to QUICK, MATIC, and USDC.

In the beginning, IDOs will use QUICK as the fundraising token to celebrate the QuickStart partnership with QuickSwap.

We have split this guide into two parts. Part 1 will focus on how to create an online wallet, whereas Part 2 will focus on how to obtain your QUICK/START LP, MATIC and more. So if you already have your online wallet set up on Polygon, skip ahead to Part 2 by scrolling down, now.

Part 1: Setting up an online wallet

Before you buy any of the tokens or LP tokens mentioned above, you will first need to set up an online wallet. At Starter we support a large number of the most popular wallets, including MetaMask, TrustWallet, Ledger, and Trezor.

Most wallets are set up for the most popular network by default (Ethereum), for most online wallets you will need to manually add the Polygon Network so your online wallet can interact with websites and DApps that run on Polygon.

On a mobile device…

For ease of use, we highly recommend TrustWallet for Android or iOS. Start by hopping over to the TrustWallet website and downloading the wallet: https://trustwallet.com/

On a PC or Mac…

If you want to use a wallet on your PC or Mac, then we recommend MetaMask.

Please visit the official MetaMask website here to download the wallet: https://metamask.io/index.html

Please note, once you have downloaded and installed MetaMask, its default network will be Ethereum, you will need to manually set up the Polygon (MATIC) network following the simple instructions below:

Connect MetaMask to MATIC Custom RPC/Mapping Mainnet

You’ll need to configure the Matic Network custom RPC to your MetaMask. It’s pretty simple and straightforward, and it’s easy to switch back and forth between Layer 1 and Layer 2 using the button near the top of the MetaMask application.

Click on the network selection button on the top of the app (it will probably say Ethereum Mainnet)
Click on the “Custom RPC” to add the Matic mainnet information.
Select “Custom RPC”.

After clicking “Custom RPC”, a screen will appear allowing you to set up the custom RPC for Matic Network.

Enter in the Matic mainnet details as follows:

Network Name: Matic Mainnet

New RPC URL: https://rpc-mainnet.matic.network (full list of MATIC RPCs here: https://docs.matic.network/docs/develop/network-details/network/)

Chain ID: 137

Symbol: MATIC

Block Explorer URL: https://explorer.matic.network/

Be sure you don’t miss any of the above fields. Once you’ve added the details click on the “Save” button. You’ll then be connected to the Matic mainnet.

You can now close the dialog box.

You will need to make sure your Metamask is on the MATIC network every time you want to interact with the Starter website on Polygon or QuickSwap Exchange. If you are on the wrong network, the website will prompt you to change your network, or offer you an option to do it for you.

Now we have our online wallet created and set up on the Matic Mainnet, the next step is to acquire the various tokens we will need to take part in a Starter IDO! On to Part 2!

Part 2: Acquiring tokens on Polygon

As we spoke about further up the article, currently, you require three tokens to take part in any Starter IDO on Polygon:

START & QUICK (for LP), and MATIC.

Acquiring MATIC

If you are buying START and QUICK on-chain using decentralised exchanges such as Sushi Swap or QuickSwap, then you will need to buy them using MATIC.

MATIC will also pay for all your gas fees for every transaction on the Polygon Network, so you will always need a little in your wallet (at least $20 worth to be safe).

Using a Centralised Exchange

If you aren’t worried about KYC, then using a centralised exchange such as MXC or Gate.io (that support the Polygon Network) is the easiest way to get hold of MATIC. You can use a credit card or a bank transfer to buy USDT and then use this to buy MATIC, in some cases, the exchanges will allow you to buy MATIC directly with your credit card.

If your exchange supports withdrawals on Polygon, it will offer you the MATIC option, as on MXC above.

Once you buy it on the exchange, you can send it directly (withdraw) from your wallet on the exchange to your MetaMask or TrustWallet, etc — so long as your online wallet supports the Polygon Network.

For more details on where to buy MATIC visit their official website here: https://polygon.technology/matic-token/

Please note: Some of the above exchanges do not support the Polygon Network yet, and will only sell MATIC based on the Ethereum Network — if you have MATIC on Ethereum you will need to send it over the Polygon bridge to deploy it on Polygon.

If you want to use a Decentralised Exchange to buy MATIC, you will need to either send some of your tokens over from Ethereum using the bridge, or buy MATIC on Ethereum using something like Uniswap, and send your MATIC tokens over the bridge, to your online wallet.

Acquiring START, QUICK, and QUICK/START LP Tokens

In order to buy QUICK/START LP tokens (and be eligible for an IDO on the Starter.XYZ platform), you will need to first provide liquidity to the QUICK/START pool on Quickswap.Exchange.

Before you get your LP tokens from the QuickSwap.Exchange, you will first need both START and QUICK tokens.

As with staking START on BSC, the more QUICK/START LP you stake, the more your allocation will be in IDOs.

Here are the number of QUICK/START LP tokens you need to reach the different tiers on Starter:

To work out how many QUICK and START tokens you need to get the number of LP tokens you want, input your START and QUICK token numbers on the Liquidity Pool interface on QuickSwap and click ‘Supply’.

(Please note: The exact number of tokens needed will change depending on fluctuations in the value of QUICK & START).

This will trigger a pop-up, that will confirm how many LP tokens you will receive for your START and QUICK.

Click ‘Confirm Supply’ to add your START and QUICK tokens and receive your QUICK/START LP Tokens.

Here is a direct link to the QUICK/START Liquidity Pool:
https://quickswap.exchange/#/quick/0x6Ccf12B480A99C54b23647c995f4525D544A7E72/0x831753DD7087CaC61aB5644b308642cc1c33Dc13/0xB1B2e2b4cBED8e7b6FF7Cca016760ccA9260f0Ec

Once you provide liquidity (by adding equal amounts of QUICK and START tokens to the Liquidity Pool) you will receive LP tokens in return. You will need to stake the LP tokens on QuickSwap.Exchange to be able to buy in an IDO, and earn staking rewards. You can also stake directly on Starter.xyz.

To understand how to get QUICK or START tokens, then follow the steps below:

How to get QUICK tokens

Much like buying MATIC tokens, you can get QUICK tokens via two main routes, a centralised exchange or via a decentralised exchange on the Polygon network using MATIC.

1.Using a centralised exchange

Currently, BKEX, MXC, and Gate.io sell QUICK tokens (paired with USDT). You can buy USDT using your credit card, or send it over from another centralised exchange app you have set up — and buy your QUICK tokens.

Once you have purchased them, you can send them directly to your online wallet on the MATIC mainnet using the ‘Withdraw’ function.

2. Using QuickSwap

QUICK can be easily obtained from Quickswap.Exchange, there are three pools with multi-million dollar liquidity you can use.

QUICK/WMATIC
QUICK/WETH
QUICK/USDC

How to get START tokens on Polygon

There are currently two main ways to get START tokens on Polygon.

Send your START across from Binance Smart Chain

The first, and easiest way for many of our longtime Starters, will be to send your START tokens from Binance Smart Chain over to Polygon using the START bridge.

This is very simple and costs nothing but a little time — approximately 10 minutes.

We utilize the AnySwap/Multichain.xyz networks to deliver a seamless experience to our community.

Follow the instructions below to help you get started.

Visit the START token bridge on AnySwap.exchange: https://anyswap.exchange/bridge?inputCurrency=0x6ccf12b480a99c54b23647c995f4525d544a7e72&network=polygon

Connect your MetaMask to Polygon: https://dappradar.com/blog/set-up-metamask-on-layer-2-and-avoid-ethereum-gas-fees

Perform your Cross Chain Deposit using the image below:

2. Buy $START tokens on QuickSwap using QUICK

Currently, the only place on Polygon you can buy $START tokens is QuickSwap.Exchange. The pair is QUICK/START, which means you need to use QUICK tokens to buy START and when you sell START you will receive QUICK tokens in return.

Here is the direct link to the QUICK/START pair to buy START on QuickSwap Exchange: https://quickswap.exchange/#/swap?inputCurrency=0x6ccf12b480a99c54b23647c995f4525d544a7e72&outputCurrency=0x831753dd7087cac61ab5644b308642cc1c33dc13

The Final Step: Stake your QUICK/START LP Tokens

So, your online wallet is set up. It’s loaded with a little MATIC, some QUICK, and most importantly, your QUICK/START LP tokens.

Now, all you need to do to make sure you are eligible to take part in an IDO on Starter on Polygon is stake your QUICK/START LP on QuickSwap.Exchange or Starter.xyz and you are good to go!

Here is the direct link of where to stake: https://quickswap.exchange/#/quick/0x6Ccf12B480A99C54b23647c995f4525D544A7E72/0x831753DD7087CaC61aB5644b308642cc1c33Dc13/0xB1B2e2b4cBED8e7b6FF7Cca016760ccA9260f0Ec