How to connect MetaMask to Arbitrum ETH L2 bridge

The guide below aims to explain how users can connect their MetaMask wallet to the Arbitrum layer 2 bridge. You will find a brief explanation of what Arbitrum is and why it is much better to link it with your MetaMask wallet as opposed to competitor wallets. In addition to that, the article covers important information regarding the benefits of Arbitrum and a step by step guide on how to connect the Ethereum wallet - MetaMask with Arbitrum. To learn more about what MetaMask is you can check our other articles on our website.

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Arbitrum in a nutshell

Arbitrum which is the only EVM-compatible (Ethereum Virtual Machine) rollup is currently live on an open public testnet, instantly scales dApps by dramatically reducing costs and increasing capacity without the loss of security protocols. The New York based company Offchain Labs is developing a variety of scalable solutions for Ethereum such as Arbitrum.

The Arbitrum bridge is fully compatible with Ethereum developer tools currently in fluctuation and their team’s aim is to shape the future of technology and smart contracts.

The main reason for Arbitrum’s existence is to tailor to the shortcomings of current smart contracts based on Ethereum. These include – inefficiency and very high execution costs which result in bad Ethereum user experience as well as expensive transactions.

Additionally, Arbitrum uses a different technique. Transaction rollups are used to record batches of submitted transactions on the Ethereum main blockchain. Thus, they are executed on a scalable layer 2 sidechain which is cheaper by default and ensures accurate results. The process assists offloading computational and storage burdens which Ethereum currently suffers from.

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Benefits using Arbitrum

·        It is an easy-to-use platform for developers. The project is designed to assist the launch of efficient and scalable Ethereum-compatible smart contracts.

·        As discussed already, Arbitrum is considered to be one of the most EVM-compatible rollups. Consequently, this makes it easy to develop on, since developers do not need to learn a new programming language before developing on Arbitrum.

·        Low fees are another benefit as the layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, Arbitrum is not simply created to stimulate Ethereum’s transactional output. In fact, it manages to minimize transaction fees at the same time. On the grounds that it has an extremely successful rollup technology, Arbitrum manages to decrease fees by a small fraction of what they are currently on Ethereum, while still providing sufficient incentives for validators.

·        Finally, Arbitrum has a very developed eco-system. Currently, the Off chain team’s project is working with a variety of Ethereum dApps as well as other infrastructure projects. These projects include: Uniswap, DODO, Sushi and many others.

Why connect Arbitrum to MetaMask?

As the aforementioned paragraph states there are multiple benefits that users can gain from bridging ETH from layer 1 to layer 2. In addition to that, they can benefit from arguably one of the best wallets for storing digital crypto assets and users can find the best transaction prices every time. The MetaMask wallet secures prices from different aggregators and markets in order to remain consistent with its 0.875% service fee.

The importance of connecting the wallet to Arbitrum is also related to slippage protection. Large swaps are usually associated with swift price changes whenever there is not enough liquidity available on a specific decentralized exchange. Therefore, swapping tokens with MetaMask is an automated process which allows user orders to be spread across all DEXs in order to reduce the impact of slippage.

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How to connect MetaMask to Arbitrum in a few steps

The following information will explain how to connect Arbitrum to the Ethereum wallet – MetaMask, by following a 3-step guide.

Step 1.

Initially, users must be registered with MetaMask and have the browser extension enabled. If a user is not registered to MetaMask, then this can be achieved by installing the Metamask wallet from their website.

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Alternatively, users can visit the browser extension marketplace and download the MetaMask extension which will achieve an identical result.

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Step 2.

The next step is to create a MetaMask wallet or to import an existing one by using the browser extension feature.

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Step 3.

After the previous steps have been completed, in order continue to set up MetaMask with Arbitrum, users have to either complete this process automatically or they can add a custom RPC network.

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Connecting to Arbitrum automatically

By far this is the easiest way to link Arbitrum to your layer-two MetaMask wallet. All you have to do is visit the Arbitrum page at https://bridge.arbitrum.io/ and if you have MetaMask already set-up, then their website will prompt you to connect your wallet.

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Ultimately, a new Notification page will open from your browser extension and will ask you to confirm your details in order to proceed forward.

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After that, confirming details and continuing forward you will now have successfully connected your MetaMask wallet to Arbitrum.

Connecting to Arbitrum manually

To accomplish this, users have to open up the browser MetaMask extension and to select the Network button titled Ethereum Mainnet which will open a dropdown menu.

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The dropdown menu is where Custom RPC must be selected and should resemble the image below:

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From there, users have to navigate and click on the Custom RPC option which will prompt them to input data. The data includes: network name, new RPC URL, chain ID, currency symbol and block explorer.

Users can enter the following Arbitrum input data below:

Network Name: Arbitrum Mainnet

New RPC URL: https://arb1.arbitrum.io/rpc

Chain Id: 42161

Currency Symbol: ETH

Block Explorer URL: https://arbiscan.io/

Once users have completed the correct data input and clicked on Save, then they will be able to switch to Arbitrum from the application’s dropdown list in the future. As a result, MetaMask and Arbitrum will be successfully linked. Here is an image of the correctly completed custom RPC:

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After completing all steps accordingly, your Etherеum wallet should be successfully connected to the Arbitrum network.

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Keywords:

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