Canonical bridge

Arbitrum Bridge

Arbitrum Bridge is the official bridge between Ethereum and Arbitrum, run by the Arbitrum team. Deposits to Arbitrum usually arrive in about 15 to 30 minutes. Withdrawals back to Ethereum take at least 7 days, because the network gives anyone time to challenge a wrong result.

Official website

How it works

1To deposit, you send ETH or a token to the Arbitrum contracts on Ethereum. They are locked there, and the same amount appears in your wallet on Arbitrum.
2To withdraw, you start the withdrawal on Arbitrum. It then waits through a challenge period of about 7 days.
3After the wait you claim the funds on Ethereum with a second transaction, which costs Ethereum gas.

Trust model

You trust Arbitrum's rollup contracts on Ethereum and its fraud proofs: anyone can challenge a wrong state during the waiting period. The Arbitrum DAO and its Security Council can upgrade these contracts.

Strengths

It is the most direct option: no third-party relayers or liquidity pools in between.
Security comes from Arbitrum itself, the same rules that protect funds already on the network.
No bridge fee beyond network gas.

Limitations

Withdrawals to Ethereum take about 7 days. If you need funds faster, a fast bridge such as Across or Relay is the usual choice.
Only connects Ethereum and Arbitrum networks.
You need ETH on Ethereum to pay for the final claim.