Polygon facilitates the belief of ?Web3.0 for all!? and Polygon Bridge is the means to do just that. Polygon, as we know, is a decentralized Ethereum scaling platform enabling developers to develop scalable, user-friendly decentralized applications. It solves the impending blockchain issue of high transaction fees without ever compromising on security.
With the increasing number of blockchains in the crypto space, sharing data and crypto tokens among different blockchain networks has been truly challenging. The Polygon Bridge is designed in such a way that it increases interoperability between the Polygon and Ethereum blockchains. With a compatible crypto wallet, customers can easily transfer tokens back and forth.
The Polygon Bridge is used for cross-chain transactions between the Polygon (MATIC) and Ethereum (ETH) blockchains. It enables users to transfer ERC tokens and NFTs to the Polygon sidechain through smart contracts.
Two Polygon bridges exist the proof-of-stake (PoS) Bridge, the official Matic Bridge, and the Plasma Bridge. Both these bridges allow users to send tokens from Ethereum to Polygon and vice versa but have different approaches to security methods.
Let’s see how it works!
How Does the Polygon Bridge Work?
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The Polygon bridge enhances the Ethereum ecosystem by employing effective tools that help build scalable decentralized applications. It allows users to transfer tokens from Ethereum ERC20 to Polygon MATIC, which is its native token and also the cheapest way to bridge ETH to Polygon.
The PoS Bridge is the most direct way of transferring ETH and most of the commonly used ERC tokens. It employs the Proof-of-Stake consensus to secure its network. The deposits on the PoS Bridge are instantly secured, but the withdrawals usually take 45 minutes and 3 hours to get confirmed.
The Plasma Bridge is more suited to those developers that require a higher level of security. It uses the Ethereum Plasma scaling solution and also supports the transfer of MATIC, ETH, ERC-20, and ERC-721 tokens. Withdrawals on the Plasma Bridge can take as long as seven days.
How Can You Bridge Tokens to Polygon Using Metamask?
To add ETH to the PoS Bridge, follow these simple steps:
- Connect your Metamask wallet to the Polygon Web Wallet. Then, authorize it with your credentials.
- You will then be directed to the Polygon Bridge interface. Here you can choose to deposit a token of your choice, among MATIC, ETH, ERC20, ERC721, ERC1155, and many other tokens.
- Do not forget to read the important notes that will cover the tentative time it will take to process the transaction and the gas fee.
And in three simple steps, you can have your tokens transferred using the Polygon Bridge.
- To transfer the tokens back, click on withdraw and follow the same process described above. You will receive the tokens back in your wallet after the mentioned amount of time.
- Once the transaction is validated, you can claim the tokens to your crypto-wallet.
If you choose to buy MATIC and wish to transfer it to ETH, ERC20, or ERC721 tokens, you can also use the Plasma Bridge. Furthermore:
- After your Metamask wallet is connected to the Polygon wallet, click on ‘Switch to Polygon?.
- Your Metamask extension’s popup will show the Polygon network’s details. Once you authorize it, you can switch from Ethereum’s Mainnet to the Polygon Network. You will also be able to see your MATIC tokens.
- Now, you can go back to Polygon Bridge and click on withdraw. Follow the same steps as before.
One thing to keep in mind is that on the Plasma bridge, three transactions need to be validated, namely:
- The first is to withdraw from the Polygon Wallet.
- The second is to start a challenging period of 7 days, during which anyone can challenge the transaction on Matic. This challenging period provides additional security.
- Once that is complete, you can finally send the MATIC to the Metamask wallet.
How to Bridge MATIC to Ethereum using MetaMask
To transfer MATIC to Ethereum using MetaMask, you can follow the following steps:
- On the Polygon website, click on Bridge and then withdraw.
- Choose the Matic Token from the token list, enter the amount, and click transfer. The Plasma Bridge will automatically be selected for the transaction.
- As usual, read the Important notes before hitting continue.
- You will then be able to review the estimated gas fee for this transaction, and if you agree with the costs, click continue to proceed and check the transaction details.
- Click continue, and a pop-up will appear for you to confirm the transaction. Click confirm, and you’ll see the transfer in progress.
- Once your transaction is validated on the Ethereum blockchain, you must confirm a second transaction to start the challenge period.
- After the challenge period, you must click continue to send the MATIC tokens to your MetaMask wallet.
Now that we’ve learned about how to bridge tokens on Polygon and vice versa let’s talk about Ethereum’s EIP-1559 upgrade on Polygon.
Additional Resource: Add Arbitrum to Metamask
Ethereum’s EIP-1559 on Polygon
The Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1559 upgrade was shipped with its London hard fork last year. It has proved to be a success in terms of gas price predictability and network fee burning. The upgrade was launched on Polygon in January 2022 to improve ?fee visibility.? It went live at block 23,850,000.
Ethereum’s EIP-1559 upgrade introduces the same fee-burning mechanism to Polygon, destroying MATIC tokens. It also removes the first-price auction method for calculating network fees, which leads to better cost estimations. However, it does not reduce gas prices.
The Polygon team stated that, just like Ethereum, the supply of MATIC is likely to become deflationary, with 0.27% of the total supply being burned every year, according to estimations. There is a fixed supply of 10 billion MATIC tokens, with 6.8 billion currently in circulation.
Final Thoughts
The Polygon Bridge brings users an alternative way to experience different DeFi platforms and DApps available on the Polygon network. The interoperability of the Polygon Bridge allows its users to transfer their assets between Ethereum and Polygon blockchains.
It will be interesting to see, being a layer-2 blockchain, whether Polygon will be able to maintain the benefits it offers or not. Polygon has been extremely active with its widespread projects in the crypto ecosystem.
Stay tuned to ImmuneBytes to learn more about the latest updates around the Polygon Network and the crypto world!
About ImmuneBytes
ImmuneBytes is a blockchain security company focused on providing comprehensive smart contract security audit services. We help startups, and enterprises safeguard their applications before they turn into expensive exploits. The company was founded with a distinct aim to foster security in the blockchain sphere and enthusiasm to improve the performance of large-scale systems.?
Blockchain technology has undoubtedly revolutionized many industries. However, Blockchain networks are secure, and applications running on them might not be. ImmuneBytes conducts rigorous smart contract audits, employing static and dynamic methods, examining a contract’s code and gas optimization, leaving no bugs hidden.
Additional Resources
* How to Connect Metamask to OpenSea?
* Bridge Tokens To Arbitrum Via Metamask