Ink is an Ethereum OP Stack layer 2 blockchain designed to be the house of DeFi for the Superchain, a powerful base layer for deploying innovative DeFi protocols.
Ink is an Ethereum Layer 2 mainnet that uses ETH for gas, built to power high-throughput cross-chain bridging and EVM applications. Core use cases include fast asset transfers across chains, low-fee DeFi, and migrating NFTs/games while retaining Ethereum-grade security. Key metrics to watch for comparison: average gas per simple transfer typically in the sub-cent to few-cents range, block times of a few seconds, sustained TPS in the tens-to-hundreds, and active daily transaction counts—verify live figures on the Ink explorer before bridging.
Ink differentiates itself by offering ETH-native gas on an EVM-equivalent L2, so users keep familiar Ethereum tooling with materially lower fees and faster blocks. It inherits security by settling on Ethereum while optimizing its bridge for low-latency finality and predictable cross-chain costs. In practice this means 10–100x cheaper gas and 5–20x faster block cadence than Ethereum mainnet, enabling higher TPS and more responsive dApps; confirm current avg gas, block speed, TPS, and activity on the explorer or L2 analytics for up-to-date comparisons.
Ink uses ETH as the gas token for transaction fees. You can obtain ETH by bridging from other chains or purchasing using thirdweb Bridge.
To bridge ETH to Ink, connect your wallet to thirdweb bridge, select your source chain, choose the token you want to bridge, select Ink as the destination, enter the amount, and confirm the transaction. The bridge will handle the cross-chain transfer instantly.
To build on Ink you can use thirdweb, which provides an easy way to build, monetize and scale your apps, games or agents. You can find detailed guides and documentation on https://portal.thirdweb.com to get started quickly.
To add Ink to your wallet, you can connect your wallet and click on [Add to Wallet] button at the top of the page. Alternatively, you can add the network manually using the RPC URL and chain details and add it to your wallet's network settings.
To send ETH on Ink, ensure your wallet is connected to the Ink network, enter the recipient's address, specify the amount of ETH to send, review the gas fee, and confirm the transaction in your wallet.