Polygon is one of the major Ethereum scaling solution and many use it to store ERC2-20 tokens and Ethereum(ETH) because of its low gas fees and faster speed. However, when you install Metamask, it cannot accept tokens on the Polygon Blockchain without adding Polygon RPC to MetaMask.
To make your job easier, we bring you this step-by-step guide on adding Polygon Blockchain to Metamask. After going through this process, you will be able to receive Ethereum and ERC-20 Tokens on your MetaMask wallet.
What is Polygon? A Scaling Solution or A Distinct Blockchain
Polygon is essentially a Layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum. Though it is a separate blockchain, the Polygon network is Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible, which means it can perform all the operations(almost) that are possible on Ethereum. The need for such solution arises because of Ethereum’s slow speed of just 15-20 transactions per second and very high transaction costs.
Since Ethereum is a very popular network, a lot of people use it for interacting with DeFi, buying and selling NFTs; and for performing Transactions. As a result, it faces huge congestion on its network. This congestion leads to a higher transaction fees because Ethereum works on an auction model to decide who gets to transact first.
To help relieve some load on Ethereum’s network, Polygon offers a scaling solution that helps reduce fees and perform faster transactions. This becomes possible because Polygon submits a summary of transactions(also called Rollups) done on its platform to the Ethereum blockchain which is verified by Ethereum Validators. It requires lower gas fees to validate the summary of transactions rather than validating individual ones.
What does RPC mean?
An RPC or a Remote Procedure Call is a software communication between two networks so that one network can request a service from the other without having to understand all its details. This method is used to transfer assets across blockchains in Web3. For more details visit this page on Tech Target.
Since MetaMask is pre-programmed to run on Ethereum blockchain and receive Ether(ETH) and ERC-20 tokens, some instructions(Polygon RPC) have to be send to MetaMask to be able to receive tokens on the Polygon blockchain.
How to add Polygon RPC to MetaMask?
Polygon Mainnet RPC
If you have never used MetaMask, you can see our guide on setting up a MetaMask wallet. If you have one, see our stepwise guide below.
On your MetaMask Wallet, go to Settings, and select Networks.
Choose Add a Network and then select Add a Network Manually.
Add Polygon RPC to MetaMask 1
Add the following details to the blank spaces. You can also copy and paste them to avoid any mis-spelling or mis-typing.
Network Name: Polygon Mainnet
Polygon RPC URL: https://polygon-rpc.com/
Chain ID: 137
Currency Symbol: MATIC
Block Explorer URL(Optional): https://polygonscan.com/
You will see the following message and should now be able to receive MATIC or Ethereum on your Polygon Address.
Polygon Mainnet
When receiving Ethereum on this address, please make sure to select Polygon as Blockchain and not Ethereum.
Polygon Testnet(Mumbai) RPC
The procedure is the same except for the last step where you need to enter the following details for Polygon Testnet(Mumbai) RPC.
Network Name: MATIC Mumbai
Polygon Mumbai Testnet RPC URL: https://rpc-mumbai.maticvigil.com/
Chain ID: 80001
Currency Symbol: MATIC
Block Explorer URL(Optional): https://mumbai.polygonscan.com/
Conclusion
Adding different blockchains and tokens to your MetaMask helps you keep all your assets at one place so that you can better secure them. It also helps you evaluate all your investment decisions without having to go through multiple calculations.
We also have a guide which helps you add Solana to Metamask. Make sure to check it once. Since Solana Blockchain is not Ethereum Compatible, it is quite complex to add it to MetaMask without a detailed guide like ours.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I solve please switch your wallet RPC to polygon network?
You can add Polygon Network to different wallets using the same data provided above. Hopefully, your issue will be resolved.