Convert $ETH to $CELO in 10 Minutes with Bridging

Hey! Aaron from Spirals here. We love Celo but have realized moving liquidity from other chains to Celo can be confusing. So, after many hours trying to figure this out and banging my head against a wall, I’ve created this short guide to hopefully save you some head banging :). Hope you enjoy!

Here’s a video version as well.

Here’s a written guide by the Celo team.

Spirals is working to build regenerative infrastructure for the new economy. We are currently live in a private beta. If you want to try us out or just say “hello”, write me at aaron@spirals.so to learn more.

Let’s get started!

This guide assumes you already have a MetaMask wallet, $ETH in your wallet, and the Celo Mainnet set up on your wallet.

What Is Bridging?

Here’s Nathan — our resident web3 guru — with an analogy.

Each L1 chain is like its own planet, where the native store of value ($ETH, $CELO) on that planet is something everyone agrees is valuable but no one but nature can create — kind of like gold.

In this example, how would I transfer from gold (which let’s say is ONLY found on Earth) to silver (which let’s say is ONLY found on Mars)? Nobody can create gold or silver, so what do I do?

I have to transfer from gold ($ETH) to some currency I can trade around on Earth, like the dollar (Wrapped $ETH), then give it to a company which accepts dollars with presences on both planets (the bridge). On Mars, this company sees what my gold-backed dollars are worth, then issues me an equivalent amount of silver-backed Mars dollars (Wrapped $CELO), which I can trade on Mars for silver ($CELO).

In this example, bridging is the act of interplanetary sending. Swapping is the transfer from gold to Earth dollars or Mars dollars to silver.

Bridge $ETH on Ethereum Network to $ETH on Celo Network

1. Go to https://www.portalbridge.com/#/transfer
2. Choose Ethereum as Source and Celo as Target
3. Connect MetaMask Wallet
4. Select $ETH as token
5. Choose amount to transfer

ETH chosen as Token

6. At this point you’ll get a MetaMask notification to switch to Celo Mainnet. Accept this!

7. Choose “Automatic Payment” for target chain fees

8. Click “Next”, then accept the MetaMask notification switching back to Ethereum

9. Click “Transfer”

10. Click confirm in MetaMask

11. This should then begin the transfer. If your screen does not look like the image below, go into MetaMask and verify you’re on the Ethereum Mainnet.

Note: It took about 90 seconds for my transfer to complete

Now we must redeem our tokens

12. On PortalBridge, select “ADD TO METAMASK”

13. On MetaMask, click “Add token”

Verify Coins Are In Your Wallet

14. Open MetaMask and switch to the Assets Tab

15. Your “WETH” should be displayed

Now that we have $WETH on the Celo Mainnet, we can convert it to $CELO coin!

Swapping WETH For CELO

1. Go to app.uniswap.org
2. Connect your wallet and ensure you’re on Celo Mainnet on Uniswap
3. Choose $ETH for the top box and $CELO for the bottom
4. Choose amount to transfer
5. Click “Allow the UniSwap Protocol to use your ETH”

Swapping!

6. Click “Confirm” on MetaMask

7. Wait while it pends. This took 50 seconds for me

8. Click “Swap”

9. Review the Swap and if it looks good, click “Confirm Swap”

10. Click “Confirm” on MetaMask

Verify Coins Are In Your Wallet

1. Open MetaMask and switch to the Assets Tab (Ensure you’re on Celo Mainnet)
2. Your $CELO should be displayed

It worked!

Congrats, you did it! You successfully converted your $ETH to $CELO!

NOTE:

This text is informative in nature and should not be considered an investment recommendation. It does not express the personal opinion of the author or Spirals. Any investment or trading is risky, and past returns are not a guarantee of future returns. Risk only assets that you are willing to lose.