Not Enough Bridges, Too Many Walls
*This article was first published at https://polygontimes.com
Let’s discuss about 2 topics today — some of the commonly used crypto bridges that I have utilized to cross from the Binance Smart Chain to the Polygon/MATIC chain as well as some frowned upon behaviours that sometimes we do but aren’t aware of it.
What & Why
Crypto bridges facilitate the migration of tokens from one source blockchain to another target blockchain. How this is done is by “locking” the tokens on the source chain, and then minting an equal amount on the target chain. If the user chooses to return back to the source chain, the bridge will burn the tokens on the target chain and “unlock” the source chain tokens. This system prevents the token having to exist and be used in 2 blockchains at any one time.
Common use cases for bridge include the movement of assets to capitalize on a new platform or to enhance an existing one. Bridges also serve relatively well in arbitrage situations. Dependable bridges are well-used and do actually generate steady income for the bridge operators as users pay fees to use them, just like a bridge toll in physical bridges.
Most crypto bridges are multi-source and multi-targetted— this means they support a variety of source chain tokens to be bridged over to a variety of target chains. It’s a simple process to utilize them. Just select what token is to be bridged, select the source and target chain and wait for the transaction to complete at both sides.
Binance Smart Chain to Polygon Bridges
Let me share some of the bridges I have used to move assets between these 2 chains. As always, it is always best to plan ahead and prepare your assets in advance of anything you may anticipate — like a new platform launch that you want to get in on the first minute. One caveat about using bridges is there are usually delays (at the moment where you least expect it to) and it will play fiddles with whatever you have planned if done at the last minute.
The bridge at EvoDefi was the first bridge I had crossed, when I expanded assets to Polygon. It has a simple interface and the best part is having to receive a small amount of MATIC with the transaction so that the user can start straight off on the new chain.
Another great feature of the bridge DApp for EvoDefi is the Cross-Chain Exchange facility which allows users to swap tokens across the 2 chains. Do note that the list of token are still limited at this juncture but nevertheless, it serves most of the common needs.
I had bridged stablecoins via the bridge at https://xpollinate.io. It is cheap and the reason I used this bridge was that I could see how much liquidity is on the target side.
For example, say I wanted to bridge more than $20K USDC into MATIC as my target chain, I can tell that this bridge has not enough liquidity based on the chart above. This way I avoid encountering problems and paying unwanted gas fees.
Last but not least, the bridge that I use the most lately is the famous $BANANA bridge that brings the ApeSwap native token over to Polygon. One simple reason for using this bridge is that it is a free service from Binance Smart Chain to Polygon. Users just need to pay the gas fee for the BSC chain.
The $BANANA bridge also provides an Explorer where users can input their wallet address and all transactions related to that address will be displayed, including the status of each.
At the time of this writing, I do know that there are other bridges that have come up to serve the community’s needs of bringing assets back and forth different blockchains. I have only covered these 3 as I have personally used them and have success with it.
Always try with a small amount on new bridges before committing the full amount. Do be patient as well during peak periods as the wait time for the transactions at both ends may take a while to complete.
Next, I would like to make a call-out to the community to make improvements on some of the behaviours I have seen exhibited online.
Do remember that although we are all anonymous on the Internet, it doesn’t do any good if a potential new crypto investor joins a channel, only to see infighting or verbal insults being strewn around.
If we build a toxic environment, we have only ourselves to blame when prices become toxic.
Don’t build walls amongst ourselves and certainly don’t build walls with others trying to get into the space. If you can help answer a query from someone, please do. If you can’t or aren’t willing to, let someone else do it. Don’t troll the person asking.
This will probably be one of the few times where I will sign off the article with a few sayings that I’ve overheard and can’t get out of my head.
If you have not sold, then hodl. If you have sold, be empathic to those who have not.
~overheard during BTC’s 50% drop
There will always be another whale bigger than you and he/she may treat you the same way you are treating others.
~lecture from my stock master many years ago
Thank you for reading through this article and I wish you many successes in your journey in cryptocurrencies.
I am very active at the ApeSwap Telegram group — https://t.me/ape_swap and always welcome anyone who drops by to say Hi!
Derek (JP)
