Imagine you had to pay $20 and wait over 30s for every single game you play. Wouldn’t be that fun -especially if you lost! This is exactly how gaming on Ethereum network looks like. While it does provide best security, it does not shine in cost and speed.
This is where Polygon comes in. It solves Ethereums problem of having too slow and too costly network while still being under Ethereums security. Transactions cost less than a penny & are way faster to transact. The only problem – not easy to transfer over. But I am here to make this as simple to understand as I can.
Here is a 5 step tutorial on how to bridge from ETH to MATIC using MetaMask
MetaMask
You should have a MetaMask wallet by now. This will act as a gateway to your crypto wallet & will let a game have a connection with your account.
If you do not have a MetaMask, here is a tutorial on how to set everything up (https://youtu.be/MfkqgXNPiHg?t=296)
Polygon(MATIC)
MetaMask does not have a Polygon network as it’s default. So it should be added by hand. Follow this GIF to add Polygon network to your MetaMask
Network Name: Polygon MainNet
New RPC URL: https://polygon-rpc.com/
ChainID: 137
Symbol: MATIC (make sure you set it as MATIC or it will be automatically set as ETH – just a visual thing, but it will be hella confusing)
Block Explorer URL: https://polygonscan.com/
Adding funds to Polygon
If you are reading this, you probably already have funds on Ethereum mainnet, so I suggest using bridge to cross them to Polygon. just use this: https://wallet.polygon.technology/bridge/
You will get WETH on your wallet (Basically ETH, but wrapped in Polygon chain). You can add it to MetaMask by going here: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/weth/, looking at contracts and adding Polygon one to MetaMask
Converting added funds to $MATIC
As a last step you will need to do is convert your sent funds to $MATIC. Use https://wallet.polygon.technology/gas-swap to swap those tokens for $MATIC without paying gas.
Polygon swap
Now you should be good to go. Just use https://app.sushi.com/swap to swap anything you want in Polygon (make sure you’re connected to Polygon network – should be an icon on top right corner near your address. You change network by clicking on that icon)