My Experience with the Across Protocol Bridge and Straddl

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30 Dec 2024

The Plan: Use the Across Protocol Bridge and Straddl, show you the bridging process from start to finish, and then compare the experiences between the two.

Why: This information can be invaluable for potential users, as you will see the experience without having to go through it yourself. You can then determine if this is the right product for you or not.

Before we start, a brief introduction to the Across Protocol:
Across Protocol is a decentralized cross-chain bridge that focuses on high-speed, low-cost secure asset transfers between Ethereum and its Layer 2 networks, like Arbitrum and Optimism.

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Across Protocol Bridge: https://app.across.to/bridge

What better crypto to bridge than the topic of this article: ACX

So, I decided to bridge ACX from Ethereum over to Optimism.

I started with a decent chunk of 40 ACX, or roughly $31 at the time of writing.

After selecting "Confirm Transaction", a pop-up from MetaMask appeared and asked me to confirm or reject; to which I selected Confirm.

The $4.61 gas fee made me almost hit reject, but I decided to push onward and take the hit.

Hit confirm, and the transaction is on its way.

I have to admit that I always get nervous during these moments; even though I have done this a thousand times, the thought of something going wrong and my crypto being lost is unable to be shaken.

However, the anxiety melts away as the transaction completed in just 24 seconds, which was half of the estimated completion time.

Mission successful!

Bridging ACX from Ethereum to Optimism with the Across Protocol Bridge - ✅

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Straddl: https://straddl.io/

Now, on to straddl.

During the course of this adventure, I actually found $20 worth of USDT that I completely forgot about. So, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to use straddl to bridge that USDT from Polygon over to Optimism.

When I found the $20 in USDT, it was similar to finding cash in your pocket as you do the laundry; a small moment of delightful surprise.

Anyways, back to the bridge!

I am a fan of straddl's user interface. It gives me the estimated time, fees and gas in a little summary that is easily understandable. I am struggling to explain exactly what makes straddl's display more pleasing but suffice to say that I find the UI to be simple and clean.

Step 1: Select "Get Quote" which populated the right side with the necessary information like fees and estimated time.
Step 2: Select "Accept Quote" which will accept the quote generated in the previous step.
Step 3: Select "Bridge Now" to initiate the transaction and send the confirmation to your wallet.

Once the 3 steps are completed on straddl, a pop-up message will appear from your wallet asking you to Confirm or Reject the transaction.

I selected "Confirm", and after a short 22 seconds the transaction was complete!

As you can see in the image below, the ACX and USDT arrived safely in my wallet on the Optimism network.

Verdict:
Overall, my experience with both straddl and the Across Protocol Bridge was quite smooth. I ran into zero issues and was happy with the extremely low fees and quick transaction speed.

There are a few things I did like about the Across Protocol Bridge compared to straddl.
It was cool to see the potential Optimism rewards I would earn from each transaction. Once the transaction completed, I thought it was smart to show the user an option that goes directly to Liquidity Pools and Staking. As someone who loves to stake, this was perfect for me.

In my opinion, the gas fees on Ethereum are brutal, as it cost me $4.61 to bridge just $31 worth of ACX from Ethereum to Optimism.

Besides the gas, I paid essentially nothing ($0.02 to be exact) in actual fees to bridge the ACX and USDT.

If I was forced to pick a favorite among the Across Protocol Bridge and straddl, I would pick straddl. However, it is possible that I am biased due to paying significantly less in gas fees for the USDT transaction.