How to Transfer ERC20 Assets to Cardano

The topic today is all about how you can move your ERC20 assets like USDT, USDC, Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) and Ethereum (ETH) from the Ethereum blockchain to the Cardano ecosystem and WingRiders DEX.

Blockchains like Ethereum and Cardano are designed and developed in different ways, each with its own pros and cons. The infrastructure of a blockchain supports a self-contained ecosystem to preserve the consensus that supports security and accuracy of the shared ledger. Therefore, interoperability to transfer value and communication between networks is a challenge.

As a user holding tokens on one blockchain you may be losing out on opportunities and functionality offered in another ecosystem. Interoperability enables tokens and data transfers, and even smart contract communication between platforms. This allows users to deploy tokens hosted on one blockchain to dapps on another or to carry out fast, low-cost transactions on a more scalable network or even, deploy dapps across more than one platform. Also often there are discrepancies in price between exchanges for the same asset, like USDT or USDC, and by bridging these assets from Ethereum you can take advantage of arbitrage opportunities. For more information about arbitraging read here.

So hopefully now the benefits of moving between chains is clear, let’s move on to how this is made possible using blockchain bridges.

What are Blockchain Bridges?

A blockchain bridge enables interoperability between different blockchains or their associated sidechains by providing a connection that allows for the transfer of tokens and data.

To maintain a consistent token supply across all platforms, bridges often utilize a mint-and-burn protocol. When a token leaves one blockchain, it is burnt or locked, and a new token on the opposite blockchain is minted in its place. When a token returns to its original network, the issued token is either burnt or locked.

Bridge ERC20 tokens to Cardano

WingRiders was the first DEX to bridge ERC20 tokens to the Cardano ecosystem. Through our partnership with the Milkomeda sidechain and Flint wallet developed by dcSpark, and utilizing the Nomad and Milkomeda bridges, users are now able to bridge any token from Ethereum and deploy them on our DEX.

You will need a few tools set before you can start bridging assets from Ethereum to WingRiders on Cardano.

1. Install the Flint bowser extension wallet and fund it with ADA.

2. Install the Metamask bowser extension wallet and activate the Milkomeda C1 Network and fund it with some ETH and MilkADA for gas fees. You will also need the asset you wish to bridge to Cardano, like USDT.

3. The Nomad Bridge.

4. The Milkomeda Bridge.

This is the high-level view of the process:

Send the ERC20 asset from Ethereum to the Milkomeda C1 side chain using the Nomad bridge.
Then use the Milkomeda bridge to send the wrapped ERC20 token to the Cardano network.

Let’s get started with getting set up correctly to start bridging.

Download and configure Flint wallet

Flint Wallet is a Chrome extension which you can download here. Once installed you can use the “Milkomeda mode” to transmit transactions to the Milkomeda C1 sidechain.

Once downloaded, click the “Add to Chrome” button whilst using Chrome: Flint Wallet should be installed.

Choose Flint from your chrome browser and click “Let’s Begin,” select your language, click “I agree,” and then click the “Mainnet” button when you reach the screen shown below.

After that, select “Confirm,” “Create a new wallet,” and copy your recovery phrase, and keep it somewhere safe.

On the next screen, confirm the recovery phrase, create a wallet password, and click “Create my wallet.” For the time being, you may skip the App Passcode page and then click “Finish.” As indicated, you should now have a Cardano wallet that looks like this.

The next step is to set up MetaMask to connect with the Milkomeda C1 sidechain.

Download and configure Metamask wallet

Download and install MetaMask for Chrome from here. Then pick MetaMask from the Chrome Extensions and click “Get Started” and then “Create a Wallet” in the MetaMask panel. Set a wallet password and go to the next step of the setup process. Then, you’ll be given your Secrete Backup Phrase, which you should copy and store somewhere securely. When you’re done, you should have a new empty wallet, similar to the one seen below. At the upper right of the MetaMask screen, select the network option.

Now we are going to add the Milkomeda C1 Network to Metamask. From the dropdown list, select “Add Network” and enter the following:

Network Name: Milkomeda Cardano (C1)
New RPC URL: https://rpc-mainnet-cardano-evm.c1.milkomeda.com
Chain ID: 2001
Currency Symbol (Optional): MilkADA
Block Explorer URL (Optional): https://explorer-mainnet-cardano-evm.c1.milkomeda.com

After clicking “Save,” the network option should now show “Milkomeda Cardano (C1).” Now your Metamask can connect to the Milkomeda side chain. As Metamask gas fees are paid in Ethereum, you will need to fund the wallet with some ETH to pay these fees.

Get MilkADA for your Metamask Wallet

MilkADA is the asset for paying fees and gas in the Milkomeda C1 sidechain. To get MilkADA you’ll need your Flint wallet with some ADA and the MetaMask browser extension to access the sidechain.

Open the Flint Wallet window and click “Send”. At the next screen, enable the “Milkomeda mode” toggle, paste the Milkomeda C1 wallet address currently in the clipboard into the “Milkomeda Ethereum Address” field, and enter the amount to send (1 ADA in this example). Then click “Continue”.

At the confirmation screen, enter your wallet password and click “Send”. At the confirmation screen, enter your wallet password and click “Send”.

The transfer will require 10 confirmations, which should take approximately 5 minutes. Once the transaction is confirmed, the transferred MilkADA should be visible in your Milkomeda C1 wallet on MetaMask.

Bridging ERC20 assets to WingRiders DEX

Ok now your two wallets are set up and you are ready to bridge your USDT or any other ERC20 tokens from the Ethereum network to the WingRiders DEX on Cardano.

Apart from the two wallets, you will need to access the Nomad and Milkomeda Bridges. You can access them at these URLs

Nomad Bridge: — https://app.nomad.xyz/

Milkomeda Bridge: — https://cardano-bridge.milkomeda.com/bridge

Here is the process you need to follow to bridge your USDT, or any other ERC20 token from Ethereum to Cardano.

Open the Nomad bridge on your chrome browser.

2. Connect your Metamask wallet. Make sure the network is set to Ethereum Mainnet.

3. On the Nomad bridge UI you need to select the token you wish to bridge, which in this case is USDT (ERC20), input the amount you wish to transfer, in this case 100 USDT. Then select the origin, which will automatically have been selected as Ethereum and destination as Milkomeda C1.

Click “next” and you will see the screen below. You will need to select “Via Nomad”, if already not selected and press “Send”.

4. There are two gas fees you will need to pay, one is to give permission to access your USDT, in this case $1.37. Press “Confirm” and then you will now need to confirm the transaction in Metamask which in this case will cost $11.91 in gas fees. Please note that network fees change depending on many factors. When congestion on the network is high, gas fees tend to be higher, so try different times of the day and see when you can get a better price

5. Now you will see the screen below. This will change soon to a counter displaying a countdown to when the transaction will be completed and your assets bridged.

6. Once the transaction is completed your USDT has been bridged to the Milkomeda C1 network. To see the USDT on the Milkomeda network in your wallet you need to import the token into Metamask.

7. Make sure you are on the Milkomeda network in Metamask and press “Import tokens”.

On the next screen input the following contract address:- 0xab58DA63DFDd6B97EAaB3C94165Ef6f43d951fb2 and the rest of the fields will autofill. Press “Import tokens” and now you can see the bridged USDT called madUSDT, on the Milkomeda network.

8. Let’s now send the madUSDT to our Cardano wallet using the Milkomeda bridge. Go to https://cardano-bridge.milkomeda.com/bridge and connect your Metamask wallet.

9. Select Milkomeda C1 as the network in Metamask and now you can bridge the USDT to the Cardano network. In the bridge interface select the token from Milkomeda as USDT (Nomad) and input the amount in this case; 100USDT.

10. Now go to your Flint wallet and copy the receive address and paste it into the Cardano field in the bridge

Press “next step”, and “Confirm” giving permission to access your USDT.

After granting permission, “Confirm” the transaction on Metamask.

11. Wait for the transaction to complete.

12. You will see the 100 madUSDT appear in your Flint wallet ready to be used on the WingRiders DEX.

13. Go to WingRiders DEX at https://www.wingriders.com/ and “ENTER APP”.

Connect to the app using your Flint wallet and go to the Pools. Find the ADA/madUSDT pool and press add liquidity. Select how much liquidity you wish to add, in this case 20ADA and the equivalent in madUSDT.

Confirm the request. Then sign the transaction in your Flint wallet. Wait for the transaction to be confirmed on the network and complete batching.

14. Click on the portfolio tab of the DEX and you have now successfully added liquidity using your original USDT which was on Ethereum to the WingRiders on Cardano. Remember that apart from providing liquidity, you can also bridge assets to Cardano if you want to take advantage of an arbitrage opportunity.