BASIC GUIDE ON HOW TO BRIDGE FROM ETH NETWORK TO BNB NETWORK

WHAT IS A BLOCKCHAIN BRIDGE?

4 min readMar 2, 2022

A blockchain bridge is a connection that allows coins/tokens or other data to be transferred from one network (blockchain) to another network.

WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO SEND COINS/TOKENS TO ANOTHER NETWORK?

Well, let’s say you wanted to use FODL Finance Dapp for opening a couple of leveraged long positions with some USDC (erc20) tokens you have in your wallet. But, you know it will be quite expensive because your coins are on the Ethereum network and the gas fees are very high right now, because of the congestion.

You see that FODL has an option to switch to the BNB network which is cheaper to use, but your coins are still on the ETH network.

This is why you would use a blockchain bridge. It allows you to transfer your USDC (erc20) tokens from the ETH network to the BNB network, where you will receive USDC (bep20) tokens which you can then use for opening those long positions you wanted.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

There are two ways of doing it:

Centralized bridge

You rely on a centralized authority to exchange the tokens you deposit for the same token represented on another network (e.g. you deposit an amount of “assets” and they give you back the same amount of “wrapped assets” minus some additional fees)

Decentralized bridge

You can bridge your tokens via. smart-contract (e.g. you send your amount of “assets” via smart contract which burns/freezes these “assets” and mints new representations of them or “wrapped assets” on the other blockchain minus network fees)

WHERE CAN I BRIDGE MY TOKENS?

There are several blockchain bridge protocols available for you to use:

EXAMPLE:

Let’s see how you would bridge some USDC erc20 tokens from the ETH network to the BNB network?

For this example we will use the Synapse Protocol:

First, go to Synapse and connect your wallet.

Then select the correct networks you wish to bridge over. In our case, we will choose Ethereum as our sending network and Binance Smart Chain for the receiving network.

Next, you will need to enter the amount of USDC you wish to bridge to the BNB network. After you have entered it you will immediately be able to see how many you will be receiving back and the transaction fee that needs to be paid. You will also be receiving a small reward which is in our case 0.002 $BNB for using the Synapse protocol and it is displayed on the right side of the little box below.

You may need to approve the transaction before finally clicking the “bridge token” button which will initiate the bridging process.

The duration of the bridging process will depend on the networks you are using. Some are faster than others so bear that in mind! You will be able to see both transactions in the “Bridge Watcher” below.

There you go, you have bridged your USDC tokens from the ETH network to the BNB network. Now you can go back to FODL and open some long positions on the BNB network.

Hope this helped you in any way friend! Cheers!

“Disclaimer: This article is not trading or investment advice. The above article is for informational and educational purposes only. Please do your own research before purchasing or investing in any cryptocurrency or digital asset.”