Bridge From Solana to Ethereum: USDC, SOL to ETH and USDT

Before you bridge: a 0x address and ETH for gas

You need an Ethereum address, the kind starting with 0x. MetaMask’s Ethereum account works, and so does the 0x address inside Phantom. A MetaMask Solana account won’t do: it’s a Solana address, so anything you send there is still on Solana. After you paste the 0x address into a bridge, check the first and last few characters. A transfer to the wrong 0x address is gone.

You can receive into an empty Ethereum wallet, and Across and Mayan finish the Ethereum side for you, so there’s nothing to claim. But you can’t swap, deposit or send anything until the wallet holds some ETH. Mainnet gas is low at the moment, around $2 for a swap at the time of writing, but it moves, so look at the gas tracker before you go. If you’ll land with no ETH:

• Mayan’s gas drop sends ETH along with your transfer. On Ethereum it defaults to 0.01 ETH (up to 0.05) and switches itself on when the wallet is short of gas. That’s more than a few moves need, so turn it down and watch the amount you’ll receive as you change it.
• Across’s USDC route delivers USDC, not ETH. If you’re sending USDC into an empty wallet, either send it with Mayan and keep a small gas drop, or do a small SOL to ETH swap on Mayan first.
• Or withdraw a little ETH from an exchange straight to your 0x address.

How to bridge USDC from Solana to Ethereum with Across

USDC is the easy one. Across pays you native USDC on Ethereum straight away and settles the Solana side itself. Open Across and connect your Solana wallet, then:

1. Set From to Solana and USDC.
2. Set To to Ethereum and USDC.
3. Paste your 0x address as the recipient and check the first and last characters.
4. Read what you’ll receive. Across doesn’t charge a set percentage. The fee is the gap between what you send and what lands, and it’s shown here before you confirm.
5. Confirm once in your Solana wallet. It should land in about 2 seconds.
6. Look up your address on Etherscan. Native USDC is Circle’s contract starting 0xA0b86991. Anything else is a wrapped version, which fewer apps accept.

On a big transfer, open Mayan in the next tab. Its USDC route runs on CCTP, Circle’s own burn-and-mint route: a plain USDC transfer pays no protocol fee, any relaying cost is already in the quote, and it’s slower than Across. Take whichever puts more USDC in your wallet. On a tie I’d use Across: you sign once and it’s landed before you’ve switched tabs.

How to swap SOL to ETH with Mayan

You don’t want SOL on Ethereum (only wrapped versions exist there), so this is a swap rather than a bridge. Your SOL is sold on Solana and you’re paid ETH on Ethereum, in one transaction you sign on Solana. Open Mayan and connect your Solana wallet, then:

1. Set From to SOL on Solana and enter the amount.
2. Set To to ETH on Ethereum.
3. Paste your 0x address as the destination.
4. Find the gas drop. You’re already getting ETH, so switch it off or set it low.
5. Check the route label. Mayan often fills this through Swift, which has no protocol fee. If it shows MCTP instead, that adds a 0.03% protocol fee, so get the other quotes below before you sign.
6. Compare the ETH you’ll receive, then sign once.

Over a few hundred dollars, get a second quote from deBridge (0.015 SOL plus 0.04%, so the flat part matters less as the amount grows) and from Relay (0.06% plus $0.02). Price impact sits inside the rate, so the number to compare is the ETH you’d actually get. Mayan also runs the trip back from Ethereum when you need it.

If your SOL is still on an exchange, it’s often simpler to sell it for ETH there and withdraw on the Ethereum network. You pay a trading fee and a withdrawal fee instead.

When Base or Arbitrum is the better destination

Decide this before you open a bridge. If the app you want lives on Base or Arbitrum, pick that chain as the destination on the same bridges. Landing on mainnet and bridging again means paying fees twice and waiting twice. Native USDC is the contract starting 0x833589fC on Base and 0xaf88d065 on Arbitrum.

You still need a little ETH for gas on an L2, though it costs far less there. Mayan’s gas drop covers Arbitrum (0.002 ETH by default). On Base, check whether your quote offers gas, or bring a little ETH from an exchange.

The catch is getting back to mainnet later. The official bridges take about 7 days from Arbitrum and 5 from Base, or 1 day when Base’s dual-proof fast path applies. A third-party bridge skips the wait for another fee.

I’d only land on mainnet if you’ll actually use mainnet. If you just want an app on Base, land on Base. Coming back from Base later is easy enough.

USDT and Wormhole ETH

For USDT, quote Mayan and deBridge. USDT has no burn-and-mint route like USDC’s, because Tether issues it separately on each chain, so a bridge pays you USDT on Ethereum from its own balance. deBridge’s flat SOL fee takes a bigger slice of a small transfer, so Mayan usually wins there. Every deBridge order also earns Season 3 points, which can tip it if you farm that. USDT0’s Legacy Mesh is a third route at 0.03% a transfer, and here’s how the Legacy Mesh works. Check that what lands is Tether’s contract starting 0xdAC17F95.

Holding Wormhole ETH? First check which ETH you hold. Wormhole’s shows as Ether (Portal), with a mint address starting 7vfCX (checking a token page on Solscan if you’re unsure). Portal burns it and releases native ETH on Ethereum 1:1, with no price impact. Set Solana as the source, Ethereum as the destination and ETH as the asset.

With no ETH on Ethereum, pick the automatic route: a relayer finishes the Ethereum side for a fee that’s in the quote. The manual route makes you claim on Ethereum with your own gas, so if that’s the only option you’re shown, get a little ETH first. Any other wrapped ETH has to go through a cross-chain swap on Mayan or deBridge instead.

Bridging from a wallet’s swap screen

Phantom and MetaMask can both do this from their swap screens, but you pay for the convenience. Phantom routes through LI.FI, Relay, deBridge or Garden and folds the provider’s fee into the price impact line, then takes its own 0.85% on top, which is $8.50 on $1,000. MetaMask’s Swap screen does the same trip from a MetaMask Solana account for 0.875% plus network fees.

Phantom’s fallen off massively for me anyway, and it feels slower now, so I wouldn’t pay that 0.85% on anything sizeable. Go to the bridge itself. In my view Solflare is way better these days and Jupiter’s wallet is obviously great. My wallet picks go through the trade-offs.

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How bridges work, what to do if a transfer looks stuck, and how to vet a bridge before you trust it are all in our main bridging guide. Bridge front ends get cloned by phishing sites a lot, so type the URL or use a bookmark, and lock your wallet down before you sign approvals. The rest of our wallet and swap basics live in the Learn hub.