Ethereum, being the largest and most popular smart contract platform, doesn’t exactly have the cheapest transaction fees at the best of times. Often fees can cost around $5 per transaction during most normal hours or even sometimes upwards of $20 or even $50 when the network is highly congested.
But what if I told you there is a way you can pay only pennies (~$0.03) on a transaction for an ERC20 token or an NFT? It just takes a few extra simple steps.
Requirements
- A Metamask wallet installed on your browser with some funds (of your choice)
What are bridges?
Layer 2 (L2) protocols are built on top of Layer 1 (L1) protocols such as Ethereum. Bridges, as the name suggests are bridge applications between these different protocols, used to transfer assets between systems. Some popular L2 Ethereum bridges include:
In order to move funds between these networks, you need to connect your wallet to a bridge and deposit funds. Since each blockchain protocol is built differently and cannot natively support another blockchain’s native asset, artificial derivatives known as wrapped tokens are created, while the native assets are locked as collateral.
For example, if I want to send ETH from the Ethereum Mainnet to spend on the Polygon network, the process is as follows:
- Use the Polygon bridge application to transfer the ETH from my Ethereum Mainnet wallet to the Polygon Network.
- The bridge will do all of the hard work in the background, minting the equivalent amount of ETH sent as wrapped ETH (WETH).
- The original ETH is locked up in the system as collateral/payment for the WETH.
I can now use and spend the WETH in Polygon’s network as I please, taking advantage of the network’s low transaction fees.
Are bridges safe?
Some cryptocurrency bridges have experienced large hacks in the past. To ensure the safety of your funds, I recommend only using a bridge that has been tried and tested, and been around for a while. Bridges such as Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism should be fine as these are now among the 50 largest cryptocurrencies. It is also wise to start small, gaining trust with a protocol and bridge before moving any large funds.
How to swap tokens on Uniswap with cheap fees?
- Go to Uniswap and click Launch App.
- Click Connect in the top right and connect your Metamask wallet.
- Once connected, click the network icon next to your address and click on the bridge network you want to use (for example Polygon).
- Metamask will ask if you want to ‘allow this site to add a network?’, it should have all the network details filled in for you, click Approve and then Switch Network.
- When connected, you will need some funds in your bridge network. To do this click the token bridge link at the bottom, which will take you to the protocol’s official bridge page, where you can do so.
- Now you can choose the two tokens you wish to swap, and it will be done so on the bridge network with minimal fees.
Note: Some tokens may be tradeable on the ETH network but not on the bridge network (In this case, you must use ETH and cannot save in fees). However, a lot of tokens will be tradable on both.
Example using Polygon Network:
Swapping for LINK on the main Ethereum network ($6.99 fee):
Swapping for LINK on the main Ethereum network ($0.03 fee):
How to buy NFTs with cheap fees?
- On Opensea, navigate to the NFT that you wish to purchase.
- Click ‘Connect Wallet’ in the top right. Connect your Metamask wallet. If it asks you to ‘Accept and sign’, do so, and click ‘Sign’ in the Metamask popup.
- Once connected to Metamask, change your Metamask to the network you wish to use (e.g. it supports Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and more).
- Add funds to your wallet, using the bridging system on Metamask, you can bridge from Ethereum Mainnet to your network.
- You can now purchase the NFT using the WETH on the network, with cheaper fees.
- Alternatively, some NFTs allow you to purchase directly with a bridge network’s native token (e.g. MATIC instead of ETH).
