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Bridging tokens

You can move tokens from Etherlink to Tezos layer 1 and back through a process called bridging. Currently you can bridge the native token on Etherlink and Tezos, which is called tez and shown on price tickers with the symbol XTZ. When you bridge tokens in this way, the tokens on the source network are burned and the target network creates an equivalent number of tokens. For more information about tez, see Tokens on docs.tezos.com.

Etherlink and Tezos each have main networks called Mainnet and test networks called Ghostnet. Ghostnet is a synonym for Testnet in the Ethereum world; it allows developers to test their software in a risk-free sandbox environment. You can bridge tez from Tezos Mainnet to Etherlink Mainnet and back, and you can bridge tez from Tezos Ghostnet to Etherlink Ghostnet and back.

Bridging time

Tokens that you bridge from Tezos to Etherlink are available for use on Etherlink immediately.

Tokens that you bridge from Etherlink to Tezos are available for use on Tezos in two weeks.

This delay is caused by the Smart Rollup refutation period. As with all Smart Rollups, Etherlink nodes post commitments about their state to Tezos layer 1, including incoming bridging transactions, on a regular schedule. Other nodes have the length of the refutation period (14 days) to challenge those commitments. At the end of the refutation period, the correct commitment is cemented, or made final and unchangeable. The Etherlink indexer run by Nomadic Labs automatically executes these bridging transactions when they are cemented, which makes the bridged tokens available on Tezos.

Mainnet​

To bridge tez from Tezos Mainnet to Etherlink Mainnet and back, use the Mainnet canonical bridge. The bridge uses these general steps:

  1. Connect your Tezos and Etherlink-compatible wallets.
  2. Select the type of transfer:
  • Deposit transfers tez from Tezos layer 1 to Etherlink
  • Withdraw transfers tez from Etherlink to Tezos layer 1

  1. Enter the amount of tez to transfer.

  2. Click Move funds to Etherlink or Move funds to Tezos.

You can monitor the status of your bridge operations on the Transaction History tab.

Ghostnet​

You can get Ghostnet tez from the Ghostnet Faucet.

Then you can use the Testnet canonical bridge to bridge those tokens to Etherlink or bridge tokens from Etherlink to Tezos.

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