THETA/TFUEL troubleshooting

Common issues while using Theta (THETA) / Theta Fuel (TFUEL) and how to fix them.


In this article:

  • What is Theta (THETA)?
  • What is Theta Fuel (TFUEL)?
  • Paying for THETA transactions with TFUEL
  • How to recover mainnet Theta sent to an ETH/ERC20 address?
    • Mobile
    • Desktop
  • How to recover ETH/ERC20 tokens sent to a Theta address?
    • Mobile
    • Desktop

What is Theta (THETA)?

Theta originally was built as a token on top of the Ethereum network when it entered existence in 2018 by the Theta Labs teams.

Since then Theta has migrated to its own blockchain protocol where it is today. It is the governance token of the Theta protocol which means the tokens themselves represent voting power and can be used to validate or produce blocks in the blockchain.

Much like NEO and ONT, Theta has a dual token model. In the same way that ONT has ONG, Theta has Theta Fuel (TFUEL).


What is Theta Fuel (TFUEL)?

Theta Fuel or TFUEL is the secondary token for the Theta blockchain – it is used to pay for the transaction fees, as well as deploying and interacting with smart contracts on the Theta protocol.

You can actually earn TFUEL by supporting your favorite streams. For every minute you watch streams on the Theta.tv platform you support your favorite content creator as well as earn yourself a nice little reward too. For more information please check out the THETA.tv official FAQ section.


Paying for Theta transactions with Theta Fuel

All Theta transactions require Theta Fuel (TFUEL) so to send or exchange an amount of Theta you will need to have some Theta Fuel inside of your Exodus wallet.

You can easily acquire some TFUEL by exchanging any assets in your wallet for TFUEL or by receiving TFUEL from another wallet.


How to recover mainnet Theta sent to an ETH/ERC20 address?

Mobile

You will need to use a computer that you trust to perform the below steps.

First, find a computer that you trust and download Exodus on it.

Next, write down your mobile wallet's 12-word secret recovery phrase. To find this, please see this guide.

These 12-words are your master key for your wallet. It is incredibly important to keep your secret recovery phrase safe as it is the only way to recover your funds should something happen to your wallet. Please see our article Everything you need to know about your 12-word secret recovery phrase for tips on keeping your secret recovery phrase safe.

Then you will need to restore your mobile wallet to the desktop wallet you just downloaded. To do this, please read this guide.

Now, follow the desktop instructions to see how to recover your THETA sent to your Ethereum address.

If you do not want to keep your Exodus wallet on the computer anymore, follow this guide to completely remove it.

Desktop

As a first step please also send some TFUEL to the Ethereum address you accidentally already sent your THETA to. This is because you will need the TFUEL to pay for the network fees to get the THETA back.

Please open up your Ethereum wallet inside of your Exodus wallet (where you sent the THETA tokens).

Export your Ethereum private key from Exodus following this guide.

Copy the Ethereum private key.

Please be very careful with your private keys because they control access to your funds. Never share them with anyone, and only import them into platforms that you trust 100%. If you choose to import your private keys into a third-party platform, you do so at your own risk. To find out more, check out this article from our Knowledge Base: How do I keep my money safe?

Now ensure you have enabled the THETA and TFUEL wallets.

Once enabled, first open your THETA wallet within Exodus. In the top right-hand corner click on the three dots, then click on Move Funds.

You should see this box open, please input your Ethereum private key that we exported in steps 3 and 4 and click Move Funds.

This process will include a network fee which is paid in TFUEL.

Now open up your TFUEL wallet and do the same thing: again click the three dots in the top right corner then click on Move Funds to grab all the remaining TFUEL that you sent in step 1.

And you are done! After some time your Exodus wallet will scan all THETA on your Ethereum private key and move it to your new Exodus THETA wallet.

How to recover ETH/ERC20 tokens sent to a Theta address?

Mobile

You will need to use a computer that you trust to perform the below steps.