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3 Ways to Bridge $ETH to the Avalanche C-Chain
If you have $ETH in your MetaMask wallet and you’re looking to bridge it over to Avalanche, then this tutorial is for you. We’ll show you 3 easy ways to bridge $ETH to $AVAX so you can participate in the Avalanche ecosystem. Regardless of the method you choose, it’s important to note that the bridging transaction will require Ethereum gas fees. Depending on how busy the Ethereum network is at the time, the gas fees can be high. The first two bridging options work well when moving larger amounts of $ETH and/or if you don’t care about paying $100 ore more in gas fees. The final option we show is a workaround to using a traditional ETH to AVAX bridge and it will save you a lot of money in gas fees.
Option 1 for Bridging ETH to AVAX: Use The Avalanche CORE App Bridge
Built by the Ava Labs team, Core is an AVAX native crypto wallet with a bunch of great features. If you plan to actively participate in the Avalanche ecosystem, then creating a Core wallet is a really good idea. In this tutorial, we’re assuming you’re using a MetaMask Web3 wallet with $ETH in it and you wan to send some (or all) to the Avalanche Network. In addition to being an AVAX native wallet, Core also has the native Ethereum mainnet to Avalanche Network Bridge which you’ll find here: Core.app/bridge
If you’re looking to bridge a large amount of $ETH to $AVAX then using the Core app is probably your best option. Just note, you need to have enough ETH in your MetaMask wallet to cover the gas fees involved with bridging. Depending on how busy the Ethereum blockchain is, it can cost well over $100 in gas fees alone. Therefore, if you’re working with a small amount of ETH, this method doesn’t make sense as you’ll likely pay more in gas than the amount you’re trying to bridge over.
Option 2: Use the In-Wallet MetaMask Bridge Aggregator
The MetaMask in-wallet Bridge is probably the most efficient way to move $ETH to the Avalanche C-chain network. Unlike other options, you don’t have to connect to a 3rd party site as you’ll find the “Bridge” button inside your MetaMask wallet. The “From this Network” will be Ethereum and the “To this Network” you’ll select Avalanche. Simply enter the amount of ETH you want to send and it will find the best options. The in-wallet MetaMask Bridge is an aggregator that goes out and finds the best routing options when bridging ETH, USDC, USDT, Fantom or any other token to the Avalanche network. Like option one, high gas fees are the downside to using the in-wallet MetaMask Bridge aggregator. However, because it is an aggregator, in theory you should pay less in gas with MetaMask Bridge than with the Core App Bridge for AVAX.
Option 3: Cost Effective Workaround for Bridging ETH to AVAX C-Chain Network
If you have a relatively small amount of $ETH in your MetaMask wallet and want to move some of it to the Avalanche c-chain network then a traditional bridge might not make sense given high gas fees. Here’s an easy workaround method for those simply looking to bridge some ETH to AVAX so they can explore the ecosystem.
Step 1: Add the Avalanche Network C-Chain to your MetaMask wallet as you’ll see in our tutorial video above.
Step 2: Send the amount of $ETH you want to bridge to AVAX from your MetaMask wallet back to your Coinbase account or whichever centralized exchange (CEX) you prefer.
Step 3: Convert the $ETH to $AVAX in Coinbase. If you’re using a different CEX like Kraken or Binance the process of converting any token for another is very simple.
Step 4: Send the $AVAX from Coinbase back to your MetaMask wallet.
Utilizing Coinbase to convert the $ETH to $AVAX eliminates the need for a bridge in the first place. It’s a cost effective workaround that I’ve used a bunch of times to avoid high Ethereum gas fees. Simply sending your $ETH back to Coinbase, converting it to $AVAX, and sending it back to your MetaMask wallet Avalanche C-chain Network allows you to get started exploring the ecosystem without breaking the bank.
