Ethereum Layer 2 Bridges : Options Or Exploitation

Ethereum layer 2’s are a huge deal right now all thanks to the airdrops people are expecting from them, only two ethereum layer 2 roll ups have launched their native tokens which are arbitrum and optimism. All these layer 2s came up with the same promise of being more scalable than the native Ethereum, but are they? Its like the more there is a new ethereum layer 2, the more gas fees it cost to use the native ethereum. Ethereum is the largest blockchain ecosystem in the crypto space, there is always activities going on the blockchain, transactions are constantly being transacted. So lots of people are making money on the platform one way or the other, causing high competition in the space, this has in turn encouraged high exploitation.

Currently we have the optimism, arbitrum, starknet and zksync roll ups, with only optimism and arbitrum native tokens launched, we are expecting the launch of the other two. Activities on the other two blockchains have been really up for obvious airdrop reasons, but most crypto exchanges don’t support their networks yet, so dex bridging is the next thing to do. Bridging is usually expensive, if you have ever bridged cross chain you can tell how expensive it is. You can’t keep spending top dollar every time you want to bridge, so the best way to get the network ETH you want is to use layer 2 cross chain bridgers, these platforms are platforms like, orbiter finance, VIA protocol, layerswap, with some fees, you can confidently bridge across chains.

But most times the platforms charge really high, some of their charges are almost as high as the native bridge. Some of the platforms seem to be exploiting us the users. So in my opinion, I think this is how the platform works, there are like may be let’s say 1,000 ETH, since the blockchain bridge charge doesn’t matter how many ETH you are bridging. Because you can pay the same fee bridging 1 ETH and also bridging 1,000 ETH. The bridging platform could bridge 1,000 ETH at once, because they have access to that kind of ETH and they are going to pay the same fee as they would if they tried bridging 1 ETH. So what they do is distribute the ETH to people who try bridging but think the native bridge gas fee is too high.

These platforms will distribute these ETH to people at a cost. For instance, if you want to bridge 1 ETH from Ethereum blockchain to Arbitrum blockchain and it will cost you $10 to bridge with the native cross chain bridge platform, the layer 2 cross chain secondary Bridgers will send 1 ETH arb for a fee lesser. It could charge may be $2, $3 or even $5 depending on their choice. Some platforms charge too high, some charge moderately. I don’t like using orbiter finance because its fee is too high, but Layerswap is moderately okay.

Posted Using LeoFinance Alpha