ZilBridge

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ZilBridge
The gateway to the Zilliqa ecosystem, right here on ZilSwap.
The long-anticipated ZilBridge developed together by Zilliqa, Switcheo Labs, and PolyNetwork is finally here. Powered by Carbon Protocol, the ZilBridge will enable users to bridge their assets between the Zilliqa and Ethereum Mainnet networks, with more chains to be supported in the future. 
In this article, the following topics will be covered:
ZilBridge roll-out plan and key milestones;
Types of assets supported by the ZilBridge;
Bridging incentives and how to earn them; and
Steps required to help users bridge their assets between the two chains.
TLDR; Roll-Out Overview
The ZilBridge mainnet launch will consist of multiple key milestones spread across the next few weeks. Here is a summary of what’s to come:
Milestones
Details
29 Sep
ZilBridge Mainnet Launch
Users can begin:
Bridging WBTC, ETH, and USDT assets between Zilliqa and Ethereum networks;
Providing liquidity in zWBTC-ZIL, zETH-ZIL, and zUSDT-ZIL pools on ZilSwap; and
Trading zWBTC, zETH, and zUSDT on ZilSwap.
6 Oct
ZilBridge Incentives go LIVE
Bridging incentives and Lightning Liquidity Mining Rewards will kick in on Wednesday, 6 Oct — meaning liquidity providers will start to earn $ZIL and $ZWAP rewards on zWBTC-ZIL, zETH-ZIL, and zUSDT-ZIL pools, and be able to claim these rewards the following week. 
|Refer to the section directly below for a breakdown of the rewards.
13 Oct
Incentive Distribution
Starting 13 Oct, eligible liquidity providers will receive the following liquidity pool incentives:
$ZWAP: The three new pools will be eligible to receive ZWAP rewards as long as they meet the criteria outlined in LIP-9 of ZilSwap’s Lightning Liquidity Programme. Reward amounts will be automatically determined before the start of the epoch (every Wednesday) based on the LIP-9 proposal.
$ZIL: A bonus of 45.3m $ZIL (US $3.75m) (target APR of 50%) has been set aside to reward liquidity providers on the three pools. These rewards will be distributed over a span of 6 weeks so users are strongly encouraged to get into the pools early to maximise their yields
TBA - Over the next few weeks
Even More Releases
The teams will be closely monitoring the bridge to ensure operations are smooth. Afterwhich, support and guides will be provided for the following use cases:
 Zilliqa projects to offer their ZRC-2 tokens on Ethereum
Interim ERC-20 ZIL token holders to redeem their tokens
ZilBridge Incentives
An overview of pool incentives and estimated APRs as well as APYs users can stand to benefit from.
Supported Tokens and Wallets
In the initial phase of this launch, a select pool of ERC-20 assets will be supported for users to bridge to Zilliqa Mainnet. More assets will be added to this pool in time to come. 
Supported Tokens
Though more tokens are planned to be supported soon, the ZilBridge will initially support the following ERC-20 tokens:
Token Name
ERC-20 Token Address
ZRC-2 Token Address
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) / zWBTC
0x2260fac5e5542a773aa44fbcfedf7c193bc2c599
zil1wha8mzaxhm22dpm5cav2tepuldnr8kwkvmqtjq
Ethereum (ETH) / zETH
Native L1 token
zil19j33tapjje2xzng7svslnsjjjgge930jx0w09v
USDT / zUSDT
0xdac17f958d2ee523a2206206994597c13d831ec7
zil1sxx29cshups269ahh5qjffyr58mxjv9ft78jqy
Supported Wallets
Please also ensure you have a Zilliqa wallet and an Ethereum wallet prepared before you begin bridging. These are the wallets we recommend you use for bridging:
Network
Recommended Wallet
Zilliqa
ZilPay (Download)
BOLT X (Download)
Ethereum
Metamask (Download)
BOLT X (Download)
You're now all set to try out the ZilBridge on zilswap.io/bridge! 
If you are new to ZilBridge, please take a few minutes to look through the step-by-step guide below before embarking on your bridging journey :)
Using the ZilBridge (Mainnet)
Please ensure that you have both Zilliqa and Ethereum web3 wallets ready before beginning the bridging process. If you've not previously installed the extensions, please refer to the ​Supported Wallets section.
1 | Preparing Your Wallets
Ensure that both your wallets are connected to the Mainnet networks:
Your ZilPay wallet that is connected to ZilSwap will be your default receiving Zilliqa wallet shown on the ZilBridge UI.
Metamask for Ethereum chain (left) and ZilPay for Zilliqa chain (right).
2 | Bridging Your Assets
During the start of a transfer, a private-transfer-recovery-key.txt file — containing a 12-word transfer key phrase — will automatically be downloaded to your device. You may use the transfer key to recover your transfer should it be disrupted or paused midway. 
Please keep this text file secure and do not ever reveal your transfer key phrase to anyone. ZilSwap will not be held accountable and cannot help you retrieve those funds once they are lost.
2.1 | Ethereum -> Zilliqa
You may follow this video tutorial to learn how to bridge your assets from Ethereum to the Zilliqa chain.
2.2 | Bridging your assets from Zilliqa -> Ethereum
You may follow this video tutorial to learn how to bridge your assets from Zilliqa to the Ethereum chain.
3 | Acquiring ZIL for gas
Some ZIL will be required to transact on the Zilliqa network after you have bridged your ERC-20 assets. If you do not yet have ZIL, here are some options to acquire it:
Option 1: Transak on ZilSwap

Transak allows for easy fiat on-ramp into crypto. On zilswap.io, click on the Buy ZIL button in the menu bar. The Transak purchase widget will appear and you can immediately follow the steps and use your credit card to purchase ZIL with fiat.
Option 2: Through Centralised Exchanges (CEXs)
A list of exchanges where you can purchase ZIL can be found here.
After purchasing ZIL on a centralised exchange, you can proceed to download your ZilPay wallet (refer to table above for the download link) and withdraw your ZIL to your ZilPay wallet. Make sure to ONLY transfer ZRC-2 ZIL.
4 | Recovering Failed Transfers
In the event your transfer fails, you may go to the Transfer History tab to recover and resume your transfers. 
It is important to note which Stage (Stage 1, 2, or 3) your transfer failed at as the recovery steps will vary slightly. Skip to the right section:
​3.1 Disruption During Stages 1 or 2 of the Transfer​
​3.2 Disruption During Stage 3 of the Transfer​
3.1 Disruption During Stages 1 or 2 of the Transfer
You may resume your transfer using the 12-word keyphrase contained within the private-transfer-recovery-key.txt file that was automatically downloaded to your device at the start of the transfer. Simply enter the key phrase under the Resume Transfer feature on the Transfer History tab to begin the recovery process.
Once you have pasted your transfer key, click Verify Transfer Key. Wait for it to be verified before proceeding to link your Destination wallet and resuming your transfer.
3.2 Disruption During Stage 3 of the Transfer
In the event your bridging is disrupted or paused midway in Stage 3, you will be able to recover and resume your transfer directly via the Transfer History tab. There you can also keep track of all your past transfers made between networks.
1.Begin by revealing and copying your transfer key (12-word phrase). Please ensure to not reveal your transfer key to anyone, else your transferred funds may be lost.


2.Next click Resume Transfer. A pop up will appear where you will be prompted to paste the transfer key you have previously copied.


3.Once you have pasted your transfer key, click Verify Transfer Key


4.Once your transfer key has been verified, proceed to link your Destination wallet, and resume your transfer. 
5 | Pooling Your Assets 
After bridging over to the Zilliqa mainnet network, you can start to earn yield on your assets when the liquidity mining incentives kick in on 6 October! Remember, you will get bonus $ZIL incentives (on top of Liquidity Mining Incentives) for providing liquidity on ZilSwap. To learn how you can become a liquidity provider, click here.
6 | Video Tutorial
If you are someone who is visual and would like to learn more about the bridge via a video tutorial, you may check out this handy guide prepared by our community member, Zilliqa Zebra!
FAQs
How much does it cost to bridge my assets over?
The following table is a breakdown of fees to bridge assets back and forth between Ethereum Mainnet and Zilliqa Mainnet. For reference on what the gas is on Ethereum, please head over to ethgasstation.info.
There are two fees you will need to pay when bridging a given asset from a source chain to a destination chain:
1.Source chain fees:  You will need to initiate a transaction on the source chain and for this you will be paying the network fees denominated in the native currency of the source chain. 
2.Destination chain fees: Unlike on the source chain where you initiate the transaction, on the destination chain, a node called a relayer sends the bridged asset to your wallet. You need to cover the fees that the relayer has to pay on the destination chain for this transaction. This fee is subtracted from the asset being bridged over.
For example, if you are bridging USDT from Ethereum (source) to Zilliqa (destination), you will pay the transaction fee in ETH on the Ethereum chain. And the relayer will pay the fees on your behalf to send you zUSDT on the Zilliqa chain. To cover the cost of this transaction, the relayer will deduct the fees from the asset being transferred, i.e., USDT. So, if you are sending 100 USDT, you will receive (100 - the relayer fees) zUSDT. 
Bridging Direction
Source Chain
Destination
Chain
Fee on Source Chain* 

Fee on Destination Chain* 
Total Fee*
Ethereum >> Zilliqa 
Ethereum
Zilliqa
Approx. $16
~$0.30 charged by the relayer on the bridged asset
$16–17 
Zilliqa >> Ethereum
Zilliqa
Ethereum
Approx. $0.80
~$44 charged by the relayer on the bridged asset
$44–$45 
* Please note fees quoted in the table above are estimates. Actual costs will depend on (1) congestion on either or both source and destination chains, as well as the (2) price of the native currency where gas is being charged. At the point of writing this guide, the Ethereum price is assumed to be around $2,900 and gas price to be between 50 to 60 gwei.
For first-time ZilBridge users, you will have to allow the bridge contracts to spend tokens on your behalf. Users will be required to send a transaction to approve spending of tokens on the source chain. On Ethereum, this is approximately $12 (depending on the network congestion) and is approximately $0.07 on the Zilliqa chain.
When moving assets over from Zilliqa to Ethereum, do remember to check the estimated cost of transacting just in case of network congestion over at Ethereum mainnet.
What happens if I set my Gas to “Low” and my transaction doesn’t go through?
When your transaction doesn’t go through due to a sudden spike in gas over on Ethereum mainnet, it is advisable that you either (i)  wait for gas to lower or (ii) increase the gas limit on your Metamask. For a tutorial on how to change gas limits and gas fees, please refer to this article here.
How long does it take to bridge my assets over and back? Is there a lock up period for bridging my assets?
Bridging from Ethereum mainnet to Zilliqa mainnet will take around 8 to 9 minutes (with average gas). Bridging the other direction — Zilliqa mainnet to Ethereum mainnet — will take around 3 to 4 minutes. There is no lock up period on your assets when bridging either way. 
How do I tell if I have the bridged assets in my wallet?
One way to verify is by simply adding the tokens into your wallet.
Click on the “Tokens'' tab on your ZilPay wallet and click on the “+” button. Paste in the token contract address (refer to the token addresses listed under the Supported Tokens section). The token will automatically be detected and ready for you to add!