The term “gas” almost surely makes its way into every crypto conversation worth a few cents.
High gas fees are why many crypto users and orgs are migrating their Ethereum coins, tokens, and smart contracts to L2s.
Right now, the most gassed L2—but really, gas-less — is Polygon.
Polygon is an L2 (Layer 2) network that is built on the Ethereum network (an L1). L2s like Polygon unlock more value for users of a blockchain network, by making the use of the L1s network faster, cheaper, and more scalable.
Since Polygon is fully EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) compatible, every smart contract, dapp, token, and NFT that exists on Ethereum can also exist on Polygon.
There’s much belief that NFT communities, DeFi protocols, and DAOs will migrate to L2s like Polygon, affording users significantly cheaper costs to mint tokens and use web3 connected products and services.
These are good reasons for us to learn about one of the main tools that will usher the adoption of L2s: a “bridge”.
A bridge is a portal that enables users to move their tokens from one network to another. For example, a user can use a bridge to swap Ether (ETH) on the Ethereum network, for an equal amount of Wrapped Ether (WETH) on Polygon.
Then they can use their ETH/WETH on Polygon, and avoid paying the high gas fees that nobody likes about Ethereum.
Think about this: One transaction that costs $100s of dollars in gas fees on Ethereum, costs no more than $0.01 cent on Polygon.
There’s only one way I know of to get your tokens onto Polygon.
Polygon Bridge.
Let’s go over it.
Crossing tokens over the Polygon Bridge happens in a handful of button clicks. Surprisingly, finding the bridge might be the most difficult part of using it. Once you get to the bridge, you’ll need some tokens in your account that you’re ready to send over the bridge. Submit a transaction onto the Ethereum network and you are almost done.
Now you just wait... for the token to bridge. Hopefully not too long. They suggest 7-8 minutes, but it really does depend—and makes me wonder what’s happening while the tokens are crossing the bridge.
Finally, once the wait is over, you verify success of the transaction and you are all good to go enjoy the Polygon network. Just think how pleasant things will be away from all that talk about gas fees.
Here is a screen recording of the tutorial, along with steps:
Steps
[00:00 - 00:42] Open the bridge.
Navigate to polygon.technology and choose Use Polygon then PoS Bridge from the header menu.
Web3 connect your wallet.
Sign the message to connect your account.
On the app dashboard, choose the Bridge card.
[00:42 - 01:38] Send the tokens.
Initiate a transfer from Ethereum to Polygon.
Input amount of Ether (ETH) to cross over to Polygon chain, then click Transfer.
In the Transfer Overview modal, view your total, including estimation of gas fees. Then press Continue.
Confirm and submit the transaction.
Press Continue again on the next step in order to confirm your transfer.
Web3 approve the transaction and wait for the transfer to complete—this took 10-15 minutes for me—depending on Ethereum network activity.
[01:38 - 02:06] Verify the transaction.
Choose Assets on Polygon in the left navigation pane. Confirm the balance you see on the page is correct.
Choose Transactions in the left navigation pane. Confirm the transaction is listed in your transactions history.
Note that your wallet address is the same on Polygon network as it is on Ethereum. Click the action arrow icon next to transaction hash to view the transaction on PolygonScan.
Here is my transaction and account from the tutorial.
My main takeaway from using Polygon Bridge is the time it takes to complete the process. During the big moment, all you can do is wait for the transaction to finish.
On another note, I can only imagine the technical infrastructure required to build a bridge, and with all of that complexity under the... hood (I wanted to say bridge), using Polygon Bridge is fairly easy.
A few highlights
While there’s a lot of widgets and components and information all over the Polygon website, it’s easy to stay focused on each step in the process. Each call to action is obvious and shares useful information — e.g., estimates of fees and time for the transaction to complete.
Polygon understands users get frustrated tabbing through multiple sites in order to get something done. To help us avoid that fate, Polygon’s website includes a wallet, bridge, token swap station, and transaction logs. That’s all the tools required in order to cross the bridge comfortably.
Though it’d be nice to have a NUX (new user experience) give me a tour of the bridge, I realize it isn’t the only tool on the platform. That being said, I think Polygon does a great job placing links to docs and support resources upfront, making it available to users.
A few wishes
There’s no doubt Polygon’s UI follows timeless website design principles that appeal to most people. But with a keen eye, the site is unpolished in a few places. For example, the cards listed on the dashboard don’t respond to a resized screen, you have to infer what network you’re on, and also whether the bridge transaction completed actually.
Right now the site’s UX seems geared for developers and network contributors — e.g., clicking “Get Started” on the landing page takes you to Polygon’s docs. I think the most important purpose of visiting Polygon’s site is to connect and use your web3 account on their network. It’s not big, but I do think something like “Connect Account” would better serve as the primary call to action on the home page.
Using the bridge is simple enough, but navigating through the entire Polygon web experience is not very smooth. Clicking a tool to use in the app requires a full page load, which feels choppy and like things aren’t connected together.
I’ve been around cryptocurrencies for a while, and this is the first time I’ve moved my tokens across a different network. The result was a thrill, like I found an entirely new dimension in the world of web3.
And it was nice that I didn’t travel far from my Ethereum comfort zone.
L2s like Polygon could lead us to the most open and accessible web3 experience for everyone.
I’m glad I chose Polygon Bridge as the first bridge I crossed. The grass really might be greener over here. Maybe more people will come play in this part of the metaverse soon.
Scored in the categories: Product and Presence. Each category is out of 10.
Product - 7
Everything you need, all in one place.
Product seems safe and trustworthy.
Presence - 9
Established presence on typical web3 community platforms
Primary call to action leads to an encyclopedia of using the Polygon platform.
Links to support, docs, and other tools across the entire site.
That’s it. Thanks for reading - if you want more web3 content like this, follow me on Twitter.