Lately I kept hearing about Matic from various people around LeoFinance and not only. A few days ago I bought some MATIC on Binance (just a little bit), but that was it.
Today was the day to plunge one step further for me.
What I found out is that it has much lower fees than BSC, a few fractions of a cent. Of course, it isn't as popular as BSC or Ethereum yet, we'll have to see how these evolve with the price of MATIC I guess.
But, if you want to try it out, the interesting part is that Ethereum defi 'monsters' like Aave and Curve already offer support for Matic, which maybe is in its own way a great 'audit' of the network.
If you are on Binance/BSC, like me, how do you start using Matic Network?
Well, here's a tutorial based on how I did it.
Step 1. Set up Matic Mainnet on Metamask.
If you already use BSC (or Ethereum mainnet), you should be familiar with the simple process. Here is the information you need for setting up Matic Mainnet on Metamask. You only need to follow step a) from the linked guide, unless you have funds on the Ethereum mainnet you want to transfer to Matic.
(Optional) Step 1.a. Exchange MATIC to USDT on Binance
If you bought, like me, MATIC on a centralized exchange, you need to perform this action, otherwise skip to the next step.
Exchange MATIC to USDT and then send it to BSC. The reason why we exchange MATIC for USDT is that the bridge between BSC and MATIC only supports DAI, USDC and USDT. You can't send MATIC directly to Matic Network from BSC, at least not with this bridge I was using.
Step 2. Swap to DAI, USDC or USDT the funds you want to transfer to Matic
On Binance Smart Chain, swap any funds you want to transfer to Matic to one of the following stable coins: DAI, USDC or USDT.
Don't swap to multiple stable coins (for example, DAI and USDT), or you'll pay for more operations, and remember, they are cheaper on Matic.
Step 3. Use the bridge to move stable coin across to Matic
Ok, I used this bridge, which is in beta stage: https://www.xpollinate.io/
It is from what I saw one of the recommended options to move funds across from BSC to Matic, but there are other options which I didn't explore, since I only transferred a small amount. For larger amounts, maybe you should check and compare all available options, but there aren't many for BSC to Matic.
The interface is very simple. You select the source chain, the destination chain and the coin you want to transfer. You also need to include the receiver address.
Go to Metamask and switch the network to Matic Mainnet for a little bit. Copy your account's address when you are on the Matic Mainnet, you will need it.
To transfer funds from BSC to Matic, you need to switch to the BSC Mainnet on Metamask and connect to xPollinate.
After the connection is established, 'Binance Smart Chain' should appear in the top right.
Before you do anything else, you should paste the Matic account address you copied from Metamask earlier, in the Receiver Address input box.
Then you can set the other parameters. At the top left of the input zone, from the dropdown select 'Binance Smart Chain', at the right select 'Matic Mainnet'. That means you want to cross the bridge from BSC to Matic.
Below the bridge symbol (<>), it's the stable coin you want to move across. That's where you select the stable coin you have prepared at the previous step.
Once you have these mini-steps completed, you click Swap.
You'll be asked to sign a transaction (you can identify it by the description: 'Connext Login v1.0') and then pay the transaction on the BSC side.
Note: In some places in Metamask you will find ETH or Ethereum displayed instead of BNB (regarding fees or addresses). That's just a display issue, it'll work and it is BNB if it is on the BSC Mainnet.
After that everything is automated.
Note: It is possible that moving the funds across the bridge fails. Don't worry! It happened to me too. This often happens if the bridge service temporarily runs out of funds on the other side of the bridge, from what I can tell. You can retry and xPollinate will pick up the pending transaction and try again, or you have the option to get refunded if you change your mind. On one transaction I had to retry a few times before it worked.
When xPollinate tells you the transaction is successful, you should have you stable coin on Matic Network.
You can switch Metamask to Matic Mainnet and see if they are shown. They should, but in the unlikely event they don't, you probably need to add the custom token to Metamask. In any case, xPollinate also shows you the transaction id, and you can track it with a chain explorer.
Step 4. Time to get your first fraction of MATIC
So, you have your stable coin on Matic Mainnet. Now what? You can't do anything with them, nothing at all, because you have no MATIC for the fees. Even if it costs so little, if you have zero, it's still less than a fraction of a cent.
The problem is you can't transfer MATIC to Matic Mainnet, unless you have crazy amounts and want to use the Ethereum blockchain and pay its fees. Or maybe you know someone who can give you a fraction of a MATIC for your first few dozen fees?
Well, if you don't, there's another way. The way I used: a faucet.
There is a faucet which will give you enough MATIC to get you started with the fees. If you have enough, I believe you won't get anything.
Here's the faucet:
https://matic.supply/
All you have to do is connect with your Metamask (Matic Mainnet, of course) and pass the captcha test. Then you can claim the 0.005 MATIC.
Step 5. Start farming!
Now you're free to explore. The interfaces mostly look alike and you already know how one works, at least: CubFinance.
The absolute giants are AAVE and CURVE, which I already mentioned at the beginning of this tutorial.
But there are others too, most of them very young, and probably very risky.
I saw QuickSwap looks quite serious and big. That's where I parked my tiny initial investment. Apart from an insignificant part which I put in a platform that barely launched.
Conclusion
I hope this is helpful to some of you. It took me a while to figure out some things. And I made a few mistakes too (like sending MATIC to BSC without realizing I couldn't swap it to a stable coin there). If you want to share from your experiences with Matic, please do. If you have questions, let me know. I'm obviously new to it, but maybe I already came across something that eludes you.