Polygon WETH is a Polygon token wrapped by the Ethereum token. It is essentially Polygon masquerading as Ethereum.
But why would anyone want to disguise Polygon as Ethereum?
It allows a cryptocurrency such as Polygon to be more flexible and versatile as it can be used just like Ethereum would be.
Earlier this year I found myself with 0.1 Polygon WETH in my Polygon Mainnet blockchain network wallet.
Ethereum on the Ethereum network (ERC20) is how this token started but it was converted to Polygon WETH by OpenSea on an NFT trade, so I wanted to convert it back.
I didn’t follow the process correctly, and it has since cost me 0.001 BTC and 4 months of time to try and get my cryptocurrency back through Binance.
To help others avoid this very confusing process, and a situation many NFT traders find themselves in when trading on OpenSea, I wanted to write a full step by step process guide – and help make sure no one else has to wait 4 months and pay a fee like I did to recover my cryptocurrency.
Fortunately, I had only 0.1 Polygon WETH – although this was worth nearly $300 at the time – but this could have been 1 ETH or even 10 ETH!
In this tutorial I will transfer Polygon WETH on the Polygon network to ETH on the Ethereum network.
Disclaimer: This is for informational purposes only as part of the research of transferring cryptocurrencies. NFT Niches do not guarantee any results, this guide and all guides can fall out of date very quickly.
If you use this guide, you do so at your own risk.
It is always advisable when following any process of uncertainly with regard to cryptocurrency that you carry out the process twice. Once with a very small, immaterial amount, of cryptocurrency to confirm the process works – and then again with a larger or remaining cryptocurrency once you have verified the process.
Verify your Polygon WETH Holding on OpenSea
Before we start converting Polygon WETH to Ethereum there are a couple of things we need to check.
You will want to make sure you are holding Polygon WETH on the Polygon Mainnet and not on any other blockchain network.
We will assume, for the purpose of this tutorial, the Polygon WETH is in a MetaMask wallet.
It’s likely your Polygon WETH is in a MetaMask wallet as this is the main wallet used to connect to OpenSea, and through OpenSea is where most users end up with Polygon WETH.
In the screenshot below you will see our 0.1043 Polygon WETH and underneath this it clearly shows the Polygon WETH is on the Polygon Mainnet network.
Now that we have verified our Polygon WETH holding on the Polygon blockchain, we are ready to convert this across to Ethereum on the Ethereum blockchain.
Choose ‘Bridge to Ethereum’
Next to the value of your WETH there are three dots in a horizontal line, and here is the option to ‘Bridge to Ethereum’.
So, what is Bridge to Ethereum?
It sounds like some kind of movie from the 1970’s, but it simply means conducting a transfer of coins between the Polygon blockchain holding the WETH and the Ethereum blockchain.
The bridge reference helps to describe a process where a transaction needs to create a bridge, or connection, between two different and separate running blockchains.
Without a bridge, it wouldn’t be possible to create the transfer, or instead we would need to convert our coins through different connecting cryptocurrencies which can be costly, time consuming and high risk of losing coins through the process.
Fortunately, this option does everything for us in a semi-automated process and helps keep our cryptocurrency safer.
Convert Polygon WETH to Ethereum
You should now find yourself on the Polygon website with a range of options, as shown in the screenshot below. Here you want to choose ‘Polygon Bridge’:
The main Polygon Bridge page should appear. Here we will add the settings and value for our transfer.
The ‘Withdraw’ option needs to be selected, as we want to withdraw Polygon WETH and into Ethereum.
This is confirmed underneath showing we are going to convert from the ‘Polygon chain’ and ‘Ether – POS’ to the ‘Ethereum chain’.
We can also see the balance of 0.104325 (W)ETH, which is the balance we want to convert.
You have two options here.
In the amount field you can choose to transfer a small amount of WETH to Ethereum to test all settings are accurate. This means if something wasn’t quite right, and the cryptocurrency was lost, you don’t lose all your WETH!
If though you are confident with the settings, you can either type the amount of WETH you want to convert or choose the ‘MAX’ button to convert them all.
Once everything looks good click the Transfer button.
First, you’ll see a warning message. This will explain what process you have selected, and that once the process initializes it can’t be reversed or stopped.
If you are happy to carry on with the transfer, choose the Continue button.
Next, you will be asked to confirm whether you are happy to continue with the two blockchain transaction fees that need to be paid.
The Polygon blockchain fee is to start the process and bridge the connection to the Ethereum blockchain, and the second Ethereum fee is to complete the transaction and the coin conversion to standard Ethereum.
Like many Polygon fees the gas fees are very small. In this case $0!
Ethereum is not as cheap and the estimated fee here is $15.28, although please note this is an estimated transaction fee. The range of lowest to highest possible fee will show in your MetaMask wallet before you finally commit to the transfer.
If you are happy with the fees, then choose Continue.
If though the fees are too high, then wait a while. Try during off peak times such as 2am to 9am Eastern time where gas fees are often lower.
We have two more confirmations to approve.
This screenshot provides an overview of the first step of the transaction and conversion about to take place, which is initiating the transfer on the Polygon chain, hence the $0.00 transaction fee.
Once ready press ‘Continue’ and your MetaMask wallet will open asking you to confirm the transaction.
Confirm this too – if you are happy with the estimated gas fee.
Confirm the Ethereum Transfer
The process of transfer has started!
It can take anywhere between 45 mins and 3 hours for the initialization of the conversion, and the Polygon Proof of Stake validation to deliver what’s required across the ‘bridge’ to the waiting Ethereum network.
There are now just two more steps to complete.
Although this can be left running, once the first stage is complete the Transactions screen should show a button which will allow you to complete the Ethereum part of the transfer.
Simply press this button, confirm the estimated fee, and validate the transaction once the MetaMask wallet opens.
This will run for a short while until you see a green tick and success confirmation within the Transaction screen showing the conversion from Polygon WETH to Ethereum has now completed.
You should now have the Ethereum cryptocurrency securely in your MetaMask wallet under the Ethereum Mainnet.
To confirm the transaction has complete, and you now have the Ethereum coins, simply you’re your MetaMask wallet to check!
