Want to learn how to send your ETH to Solana and swap for SOL? It sounds like it should be a pretty straightforward process. Yet, this is surprisingly one of the most common questions that pops up on our radar. And if you're relying on centralized services and crypto exchanges, it can get needlessly complicated.
Not to worry though.
That's why we're here. To keep it simple, and to deliver solid intel so that you can load up on some SOL with ease.
Now, why would you want to learn how to move your ETH to Solana? Well, maybe you've heard that Solana's transaction costs are peanuts compared to Ethereum. Or maybe it's because Solana Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have been booming, and you want to catch some sun in time for Solana Summer. ⛱️
Whatever your reasons, here’s the lowdown on the hard way and the easy way on how to move your ETH to Solana and swap for SOL. (By the way, it’s the exact same process in reverse, if, for whatever reason, you’d like to swap your SOL from Solana to ETH.)
Let's go!
The normie way to move your ETH to Solana: Cross-chain swapping via centralized exchanges
Let's cover the hard way on how to move your ETH to Solana and swap for SOL first. Not familiar with decentralized finance (DeFi) instruments? Then you'll most likely have used this process for your ETH–SOL exchange. And the process involves using a centralized exchange (CEX).
Step 1. Transfer your ETH from your Ethereum wallet (e.g., Metamask) to a CEX, like Binance or KuCoin.
Step 2. Trade your ETH for BTC, USDC, or another trading pair that's available for ETH on the exchange. (Make sure it's also available as a SOL trading pair.)
Step 3. Take your newly traded cryptocurrency, say USDC, and swap it for SOL.
Step 4. Withdraw it from the CEX by inputting your deposit address for your Solana wallet of choice.
Since we're assuming you want to fill your wallet up with SOL to get your hands on some Solana NFTs, we recommend Phantom Wallet. It's the most NFT-friendly wallet on Solana. You can view your NFT collectibles from inside the app itself!
But if you’re having doubts, here’s a guide on how to pick the right Solana wallet for you.
This process is as straightforward as it can get when you move your funds while relying on centralized platforms. However, there are two main issues that surface here:
1. Transaction fees. Despite being incredibly popular tokens, a direct ETH–SOL exchange pair is unavailable. This means you're left trading and transferring assets more than once. In other words, you suffer not just the exchange trading fees, but the costly ETH gas fees as well (depending on network congestion).
After all, you've got to move your ETH from your wallet onto the exchange. And once you've swapped to SOL, you've got to move it off the exchange again. Not to mention exchange rate variability. (You're more than likely leaking funds with every transaction.)
2. Sometimes, withdrawals will be impossible. On occasion, you'll find the "Withdraw" button grayed out. It can get frustrating, because there's no way to cancel your withdrawal request.
And just because they're centralized doesn't mean you get to talk to a human. Most of these exchanges don't provide any form of support, whether it's real-time chat or email with a few days' response time.
What this ultimately means is that your assets are frozen at the discretion of the exchange. They'll release the funds when everything looks good on their end.
In other words, if you’d like to use this approach, you’ll need to plan in advance. You wouldn’t want to miss your mint deadlines or whitelists for projects you've been looking at. This remains a popular option for beginners in the space.
The degen way to move your ETH to Solana and swap for SOL: Using Sollet.io
This approach requires that you create a Sollet wallet. It’s not beginner friendly, and you’ll even receive a recommendation to use Phantom wallet or Solflare when you first try to create a Sollet wallet.
First, make sure you’ve got enough ETH in your Metamask wallet to cover the transaction fees.
Step 1. Go to sollet.io.
Step 2. Click on “Receive”.
Step 3. You’ll see two tabs, one for SOL and another for ETH. Click on “ETH”.
Step 4. You’ll be prompted to connect your Metamask wallet. Go ahead and complete this step. (If you don’t see the button, chances are you don’t have enough SOL in your wallet. Please deposit some SOL first to cover transaction fees.)
Step 5. Enter the amount of ETH you wish to convert, and click “Convert”.
Step 6. That’s it. Yes, despite Sollet being promoted as a wallet for devs and advanced users, this process is actually the most convenient when it comes to moving your ETH to Solana and swapping for SOL.
Want to stick to using your Phantom wallet? Read on because we cover this in the next section.
The OG way to move your ETH to Solana: Using the Wormhole
Wormhole also lets you wrap your NFTs and use Portal to enable cross-chain NFT transfers. After all, NFTs are tokens as well, just with different token standards. Now, here you might be wondering, why might someone want to bridge their NFTs onto a different chain anyway?
Real quick, here are a few reasons:
- Your NFTs gain greater exposure to different marketplaces and their users on separate chains.
- In times of volatile price movements in the crypto market, your NFTs may do a better job retaining value.
- Lastly, you can sell your NFTs on the chain of your choice, rather than being limited to the chain you acquired the NFT on. (Want to learn more about trading NFTs? You can do so right here.)
Now let's go over how NFT bridging works step by step:
Step 1. Visit this link, the official link for the token bridge.
Step 2. Once you're on the site, you'll notice three tabs under the site heading. Click on the one labeled "NFTs".
Step 3. It's time to pick your network. Since we're bridging over from Ethereum, that's the network we're selecting here. You'll also be prompted to connect your Ethereum wallet. (Let's stick to Metamask and Phantom wallet for this example too.) Before you begin, make sure you've got enough ETH in your wallet to finalize the transaction.
Step 4. Select the NFT you wish to transfer, and click "Next".
Step 5. In this step, we select the recipient chain. (That's Solana. 😉) Once you're ready, click "Next".
Step 6. We're nearly there. All you've got to do is click "Transfer", and then "Redeem". Finally, once you approve all the wallet signature requests that pop up, voilà! You'll be able to see your NFT in the Collectibles section in your Phantom wallet.
All in all, it's a super simple way to bridge your NFT assets over from Ethereum to Solana. (Read about Solana vs. Ethereum NFTs here.)
Think you lost your wormhole tokens? Not so fast...
Once you initiate a transfer, you should not move away from the page. But for whatever reason you do (maybe your cat jumped on your keyboard), don't panic. Not all hope is lost. Your tokens and your NFTs are still recoverable, which is mucho awesome. Here's a quick step-by-step tutorial from Wormhole.
Ready to move your ETH to Solana and step into the Solana ecosystem?
Solana and Ethereum have become the two most popular blockchains for NFTs. However, Solana has recently come to surpass Ethereum when it comes to trading volume. (If you’d like to read more about how to buy NFTs on Solana, we’ve got a guide for that. 😉)
Now that we've gone over in depth how to move your ETH to Solana and swap for SOL, try out Wormhole, and tell us on Twitter how you found the process.
Still struggling? Worst comes to worst, you can always use your precious fiat currency to buy some SOL directly off an exchange. There’s no shame in that!