Note: This blog post is meant for beginners. If you have experience with web3 and blockchain, you might not find this as useful, but I encourage you to maybe stick around anyway.

In the last blogpost we have talked about L2s and rollups in this blogpost we are going to do our first transaction on a L2 solution “Arbitrum“. We’re going to learn how to interact with an L2 chain – specifically, Arbitrum. I’ll keep things light and easy to follow. Let’s get started!

Getting Set Up on Arbitrum One

First off, head over to Chainlist. It’s a handy site where we can find and connect to various blockchain networks. For our demo, search for “Arbitrum Sepolia” and make sure to check the ‘Include Testnets’ option. This allows us to play around on a test network without requiring real assets as we did in our first ether transaction.

Once you’ve located Arbitrum Sepolia, simply click on the “Connect wallet” button. I’m using Metamask for this demo because it’s widely used and pretty straightforward.

Note: always ensure your wallet is set up for the testnet to avoid any real funds slipping through during the demo!

Bridging Funds to Arbitrum

Bridging is essentially moving our assets from one chain to another. It’s important for using L2 solutions while keeping your main assets secure on Layer 1. For our example, we’ll bridge some Ethereum from the Sepolia testnet to Arbitrum Sepolia.

– First Navigate to the Arbitrum Bridge.

– Select “MetaMask” under Connect a Wallet.

– Toggle ‘Testnet mode’ ON after clicking on “From: Ethereum”

– Choose Ethereum “Sepolia” as source and Arbitrum Sepolia as our destination.

– Enter the amount you want to send. I’m sending 0.05 ETH for this walkthrough.

– Hit that ‘Move funds to Arbitrum Sepolia’ button and voilà! We’re bridging assets.

Verifying the Transaction

We can check our transaction on Sepolia Arbiscan similar to what we did using https://sepolia.etherscan.io/ in our first blockchain transaction. It gives us a full insight into where our funds are and how the transaction processed and all the details that we already dicusssed in the transaction blogpost.

Common Attacks on L2 Chains

While we’re at it, let’s touch upon some security aspects. Layer 2 solutions, just like Layer 1, also suffer from attacks. L2 solutions are fantastic, but they come with their own set of risks, such as replay attacks, Sybil attacks, and double-spending. Don’t worry we are going to discuss them in the future blogposts

This is the last blog post of this basics of Blockchain series. I hope this series was helpful. it was a learning experience for me too.

Next, we will learn the basics of Solidity. I hope it encourages more people to explore this exciting space. Stay tuned for more.