Cronos is the native blockchain from Ethermint. It is a blockchain that operates off two blockchains; Ethereum and Cosmos blockchains.
Cronos is a massive scaling solution that provides ease of deployment and porting of DeFi, NFT, and metaverse projects.
Apart from providing an easy way to deploy these apps, it allows users and developers to enjoy its low-cost and high-speed transaction processing capability.
Its high scalability allows it to process several thousands of transactions per second, boasting more efficiency than most blockchains.
Meanwhile, it is built with the IBC protocol that allows it to seamlessly connect, bridge, and transfer assets and services with many blockchains, thereby making it a faster, better, cheaper, and more accessible smart contract solution.
Its native currency is CRO, which is also the native currency of the Crypto.org chain. CRO token is available as a multichain token in Cronos, Cosmos, ETH, and Polygon blockchains.
There is no official support for bridging CRO tokens to or from the Ethereum blockchain. However, there are third-party bridges that can help efficiently bridge the token from Ethereum to Cronos.
Although there are not many bridges that support bridging CRO tokens from Ethereum to Cronos, it is quite straightforward.
Meanwhile, you can complete the action with Elk Finance and Swapp bridge.
Before you can start bridging CRO from Ethereum to Cronos, you must set up your Metamask wallet to support Cronos’s network.
To do this, open and log in to your Metamask wallet. Go to Settings > Network. Click Add a New Network and complete the field with the following network details:
- Network Name: Cronos
- New RPC URL: https://evm.cronos.org
- Chain ID: 25
- Symbol: CRO
- Block Explorer URL: https://cronoscan.com/
After filling up the network details, click SAVE.
Method 1: Steps to Bridge CRO from Ethereum to Cronos Using Swapp
Swapp is a decentralized blockchain DeFi protocol that was originally developed to lead the movement for free and open control over personal data.
The platform features many dApps like wallet, marketplace, bridge, and DEX.
It also allows seamless transfer of its native SWAPP tokens between different chains like BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Cronos.
The only thing you need to take note of when using Swapp Protocol is the fee structure which solely depends on the chains involved.
For instance, the minimum SWAPP token you can bridge is 20,000. There’s also a transfer fee capped at 1,000 SWAPP tokens which is approximately $0.7.
However, after bridging the token from ERC-20 SWAPP to Cronos SWAPP, you can then exchange the Cronos SWAPP for CRO on the Cronos network.
Here’s how to bridge CRO from Ethereum to Cronos using Swapp Protocol.
- Exchange ERC-20 CRO tokens for ERC-20 SWAPP tokens using Uniswap
- Bridge the SWAPP tokens from Ethereum to Cronos
- Use the Swapp DEX to change the Cronos-based SWAPP to Cronos-based CRO
1. Exchange ERC-20 CRO tokens for ERC-20 SWAPP tokens using Uniswap
Using Swapp Protocol requires you to have enough SWAPP tokens in your wallet.
Since you have ERC-20 CRO tokens in your Metamask wallet, you can easily convert them to SWAPP tokens on Uniswap DEX.
To do this, navigate to https://app.uniswap.org/#/swap on your web browser.
On the top right corner, click CONNECT WALLET and link your Metamask wallet.
Choose CRO as the first token and search for SWAPP as the token you’re swapping to.
Input the amount of ERC-20 CRO tokens you want to swap for SWAPP and click SWAP.
Approve the transaction in your Metamask wallet.
2. Bridge the SWAPP tokens from Ethereum to Cronos
Funding your wallet with SWAPP tokens is your ticket to using Swapp Protocol.
Go to https://dapp.swapp.ee/bridge on your web browser to access Swapp bridge.
On the bridge, click CONNECT WALLET and approve the Metamask prompt to link your wallet. After connecting your wallet, you should be able to see your SWAPP balance.
To start using the bridge, simply toggle the button in front of ENABLE BRIDGE. This will incur an extra fee paid in SWAPP tokens.
After enabling the bridge, choose Ethereum as the chain you’re bridging from and Cronos as the destination blockchain.
Enter the amount of SWAPP token you want to bridge and click MOVE.
Finalize the transaction by approving the Metamask prompt.
3. Use the Swapp DEX to change the Cronos-based SWAPP to Cronos-based CRO
Once the transaction is approved, your SWAPP tokens are now in the Cronos chain.
To change the SWAPP to CRO tokens in the Cronos chain, switch your Metamask network to the Cronos chain.
You can change the network in your Metamask wallet. From the network drop-down, choose the Cronos network that you added.
You should see your SWAPP balance in the Cronos network.
Now go to Swapp DEX at https://dex.swapp.ee/#/swap and connect your Metamask wallet.
Choose SWAPP token as the asset in the first field and CRO as the one you’re swapping to.
Enter the amount of SWAPP you want to change to CRO. Finally, swap the tokens and approve the Metamask prompt.
Method 2: Steps to Bridge CRO from Ethereum to Cronos Using Elk Finance
Elk Finance is a cross-chain bridging platform that allows free and secure transfer of crypto assets across different blockchains.
Using Elk Finance is very similar to Swapp Protocol. You need to bridge Elk’s native token called ELK between the bridges and then exchange to CRO token with its in-platform DEX.
Here’s how to bridge CRO from Ethereum to Cronos
- Swap your ERC-20 CRO to ERC-20 ELK
- Bridge ERC-20 ELK to Cronos-based ELK
- Then, swap Cronos-based ELK to Cronos-based CRO
1. Swap your ERC-20 CRO to ERC-20 ELK
Elk Finance features a DEX which will be useful for most of this operation.
First, you need to swap your ERC-20 CRO to ELK in ERC-20.
To do this, go to Elk DEX at https://app.elk.finance/#/swap and Connect your wallet.
Choose CRO as the token you want to pay. Usually, CRO is not available on the token list. All you have to do is manually add ERC-20 CRO with its token address.
To add CRO on Elk swap with its contract address, go to Coinmarketcap.com and search for CRO. Click on Cronos (CRO) from the results and go to CONTRACTS.
The address in front of CONTRACTS is its contract address. Copy and paste this in Elk DEX to manually import the ERC-20 CRO token.
Select ELK as the token you want to get.
Input the amount of ERC-20 CRO you want to swap to ERC-20 ELK. Click SWAP and approve the transaction.
2. Bridge ERC-20 ELK to Cronos-based ELK
Now that you’ve funded your wallet with ERC-20 ELK, it’s time to change its chain to Cronos.
To access the bridge, go to https://app.elk.finance/#/elknet and connect your wallet.
The token under ‘You Send’ is always in ELK. Just change the ‘To Chain’ to CRONOS.
Tick the box for ‘Swap 1 $ELK for Gas’ and click TRANSFER.
Approve the transaction in your Metamask wallet.
3. Then, swap Cronos-based ELK to Cronos-based CRO.
After bridging, your ELK tokens are now available in Cronos.
Now, we can swap this directly to CRO tokens in Cronos.
Go back to Elk Swap at https://app.elk.finance/#/swap and change your network from Ethereum to Cronos.
Choose ELK as the token you want to pay and CRO as the one you want to get.
Enter the amount of ELK you want to swap to CRO and tap SWAP > CONFIRM SWAP. Approve the transaction in your Metamask wallet, and that’s all. You’ve successfully bridged your CRO tokens from Ethereum to the Cronos network.
Conclusion
Using the official Cronos bridge would have been the best way to bridge CRO from ETH to Cronos without having to go through the stress of exchanging for other tokens.
However, the network only supports bridging between Crypto.org, Cronos, Terra, Cosmos, and Akash.
Fortunately, support for the Ethereum blockchain is scheduled for rollout soon.
Cryptocurrencies such as WBTC, ETH, USDT, DAI, and WETH will also be available as bridgeable tokens under the ERC-20 blockchain.