This post is supposed to be the most accessible guide for bridging ETH to different networks. If you don’t really understand what are networks or what bridging is, you can start learning here ! I’m going to make it simple to understand, you’ll find useful links in here.

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Summary

Ethereum Networks Ethereum Layers What is a Bridge ? How to bridge ETH ?

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1. Ethereum Networks

Ethereum is a project with its own blockchain. On this blockchain, they have they own token, Ether (ETH). The Main Ethereum Blockain is nammed “Mainnet”, short for “Main Network”. There’s also a test network, but you probably will never interact with it so let’s not bother with that today.

New tokens (or NFT) can be created on the Mainnet, it’s one of the feature of Ethereum. You may have heard of BAT, SHIB or even PEPE. They are tokens “hosted” on the Mainnet to make it simple.

Different projects have created their own blockchains. New tokens cas also be created on those blockchains. I’ll use Polygon as an example, since the Reddit Avatars are on the Polygon chain.

The token ETH also exists on the Polygon blockchain, but two blockchains can’t communicate with each other directly ! Now imagine you have some ETH on the Mainnet, the “real ethereum blockchain”, and you want to trade your ETH for a token that is “hosted” on the Polygon blockchain. You will need to move your ETH to the Polygon blockchain, and then you’ll be able to trade your ETH for a token (or NFT) on the Polygon chain. The process of moving your ETH to one chain to another is called Bridging.

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2. Ethereum Layers

Let’s try to make it simple again. Mainnet is what we call a “Layer 1” (L1). You can think of it as the foundation. But as you may know, the fees on the Ethereum Mainnet can be quite high. When there’s a lot of people making transactions, the fees can be very expensive, and the network can’t keep up, transactions will take a long time to be processed.

In short, we need a better solution to handle the load, and to have cheap fees. Here comes the Layer 2 solutions, known as L2. You can think of it like a blockchain built on another blockchain. In our case, it’s a layer on top of the Ethereum Mainnet. There are a bunch of them, I’ll use Arbitrum Nova as an example since it’s where our moons are !

Same as the different blockchains, tokens and NFTs can be created on a L2, and only be available there. It’s the case for r/cc MOONs ! So if you have some ETH on the mainnet and you want to buy some MOONs with it, you’ll need to move your ETH to the Arbitrum Nova layer. The process of moving your ETH to one layer to another is also called Bridging.

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3. What is a Bridge ?

Now that you understand that you need to move your ETH, you’ll need a way to do that ! Bridges are a way to move your ETH to another chain or layer ! I won’t go into the details of bridging, what happens internally. You can learn about Bridges here, it’s a lenghty read on the Ethereum official documentation.

Depending on your network, you’ll need to find a bridge that can accomodate the network your ETH is on, and the network/layer you want to bridge it to.

Let’s explore some useful use cases for Redditors :

Arbitrum Bridge : It’s the official bridge between Eth Mainnet, Abritrum Nova and Arbritrum One. Polygon Bridge : It’s the official bridge between Eth Mainnet and the Polygon blockchain. OpenSea : You can bridge ETH directly on OpenSea. Orbiter Finance : You can bridge between Eth Mainnet, Abritrum Nova, the Polygon chain and many others.

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4. How to bridge ETH ?

You will need to use one of the Bridge I mentioned earlier, or any other bridge that suits your needs ! I’ll use the Abritrum Bridge as an example, but the steps are basically the same for every bridge.

If you don’t even know how to connect a wallet to a dApp, read my Complete Guide for trading MOONs first !

First, you’ll need to connect your wallet to the Bridge :

I’ll use MetaMask since it’s the most popular

YOU NEED TO BE ON THE RIGHT NETWORK !

Before bridging anything, you’ll need to make sure you are currently on the right network !

You need to be on the network from where you’re sending your ETH. If you want to bridge some ETH from the Mainnet to Arbitrum Nova, your wallet needs to be set on the Eth Mainnet.

To make sure of that, check the top of the website, or on top of your MetaMask UI

The source network must be set as the currentnetwork on your wallet

If it’s not the case before your make the bridge, make sure to change networks. It’ll ask for a confirmation in MetaMask.

Then, make sure you’re selecting the right Network for the source and the target. In my exemple I’ll send some ETH from Mainnet to Abritrum Nova

Once you’ve selected the amount you want to bridge, just click on the big bridge button ! Of course MetaMaks will ask for a confirmation, make sure all the details are in order before accepting ! You will pay the fees according to the network; if you bridge from L1 to L2, you’ll have to pay fees on both layers ! Since the fees on L2 are so tiny it’s almost negligible, you’ll need to consider the gas fees on the mainnet !

Just wait a bit, and you’ll see your ETH on the new network soon ! Then you can enjoy the low fees and speed of L2 solutions, or you can enjoy spending your ETH on some NFT on the Polygon Blockchain, like a Reddit Avatar for example !

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Congratulations, now you know how to bridge ETH from one network to another ! It’s another useful tool for someone who uses cryptocurrencies, enjoy the cross-chain possiblities !