One way to improve the speed and scalability of Ethereum, is through layer 2 solutions such as Arbitrum. Using these chains can be extremely lucrative and due to the nature of their design, they allow for extremely cheap fees compared to what you would get straight off the Ethereum mainnet. Arbitrum is one of those layer 2s that I had been sleeping on for a long time, I had heard people speak about it but I just felt no inclination towards sitting down and having a good look at it.

For a little context, Arbitrum launched on the 31st of August 2021, this layer 2 solution is still in its infancy stage but already using it is a breeze. While it does not offer the instantaneous transactions that Metis provides, it does boast a bunch of reputable projects such as:

• Dopex (DPX)
• JonesDAO (Jones)
• GMX (GMX)
• Vesta Finance (VSTA), etc
  
  

Now in order to even begin engaging with these projects, you will need to get some Ethereum (ETH) onto the chain. It should be noted that ETH is used as the gas token on this chain but at least the fees are more reasonable than what ETH offers us. In order to access this bridge, you will need to go to the following site.

Here, you will connect your wallet and be able to bridge. If you are still struggling to bridge your funds, check out this useful article by the Arbitrum foundation. As per usual, if you wish to quickly add Arbitrum to your MetaMask networks, just click on any of the projects above and connect your wallet. Follow the prompts and you should be able to automatically add the network.

It should also be noted that when withdrawing your ETH, it will take 1 week before you are able to claim your funds back on the Ethereum side, and you will also have to pay a higher gas fee. So anytime you bridge over, expect a longer stay. This isn’t really the best feature in my opinion and I would much rather prefer to not have to use this bridge at all. There are alternatives but there have been rumors of a possible airdrop, this of course is no guarantee and there most likely will not be an airdrop but why not roll the dice?