In case it's useful: A cheap way to move funds from Matic Mainnet to Arbitrum Nova without KYC

Hi All,

Ever since moons moved to Arbitrum Nova, I've been trying to find a cheap, KYC-less method of moving funds to/from the networks I use regularly. I use Matic quite a bit so I wanted to share the method I am using there. If anyone has suggestions for cheaper/simpler ways of doing this, I'd love to hear it! I use Banano because it has fee-less bridges to both Matic and Arbitrum (I still end up having to bridge from Arbitrum to Arbitrum Nova!).

EDIT: Thanks to u/EthernalGwei for pointing out an easier way: orbiter.finance can bridge directly from the Polygon Network to Arbitrum Nova, for low fees!

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The quick summary is: Matic -> WBAN (Matic) -> Ban -> WBAN (Arb) -> ETH (Arb) -> ETH (Arb Nova)

The detail in case anyone else wants to do it is below. Please don't click on links in any post without double-checking they are legit! I'm including the links below just so it's clear how I have done it.

1. Set up Kalium wallet so you can hold/move the BAN
2. Connect with wrap.banano.cc (so you can wrap/unwrap/bridge)
3. Use Matic to buy some WBAN on Polygon network. (Low fees, usually a few cents)
4. Unwrap WBAN on polygon network on wrap.banano.cc (free if >500 ban)
5. Withdraw BAN to Kalium wallet (free)
6. Switch to Arbitrum on wrap.banano.cc
7. Deposit BAN and wrap to wban on Arbitrum (free if wrapping > 500 ban)
8. Swap wban for ETH on wrap.banano.cc - (free if > 500 ban)
9. Bridge ETH from Arbitrum to Arbitrum Nova: e.g. https://bridge.connext.network/ETH-from-arbitrum-to-arbitrum_nova (When I tested this, it cost 75c )
10. Now you can swap your ETH on Arbitrum Nova for whatever you like, with very low fees!

One of the benefits (for me) of doing it this way is the much smaller gas fees. If you're moving thousands of dollars, then $5 fees aren't a big deal, but it means people can't play around with smaller amounts. I think this limits adoption, and one of the reasons I started using Banano in the first place was because it was a way I could play around with wallets, transfers, staking and DEFI without risking a lot of money (also, the community was very friendly and helpful).

Anyway, hope this was helpful to someone, and please feel free to highlight better ways to start using Arbitrum Nova - adoption is key to its success!