Ether (ETH) and Binance Coin (BNB) are some of the biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap right now. ETH is the native currency of the Ethereum blockchain while BNB is the native currency of both BNB Chains – the BNB Beacon Chain and the BNB Smart Chain.
By default, Metamask supports the Ethereum network and its native currency – Ether (ETH) and since Metamask also supports other EVM-compatible blockchains you can add the Binance Smart Chain and its native currency – BNB to your wallet.
Since both coins are on different blockchains, you cannot convert from one to the other directly on Metamask. To convert ETH to BNB you need to either use a cross-chain crypto bridge or a centralized exchange (like Binance) which has the ETH/BNB trading pair.
If you have some ETH on your Metamask wallet that you will like to swap to BNB and don’t know how to go about the process, you’re on the right page.
In this article, you will learn how to convert ETH to BNB on Metamask. We will include guides on how to convert ETH to BNB without Binance (using a crypto bridge) as well as how to easily swap ETH for BNB with Binance so you can select the best method for you.
How To Bridge ETH To BNB (Without Binance)
- Add the BSC network to your Metamask wallet.
- Open the Celer Bridge and connect your wallet.
- Select Ethereum Mainnet in the From section.
- Select BNB Chain in the To section.
- Choose ETH as the token to be bridged.
- Transfer ETH and approve on Metamask.
- Wait for the transfer to complete.
- Go to Pancakeswap and connect your wallet.
- Convert ETH (BEP20) to BNB.
How To Convert ETH To BNB On Metamask (Step By Step Guide)
Native ETH and BNB are different coins that are deployed on different blockchains so converting from one to another directly on a decentralized non-custodial wallet like Metamask is not possible.
Swapping ETH for BNB on Metamask requires a crypto bridge. There are quite a handful of crypto bridges that can bridge across different blockchains, but we recommend using the Celer cBridge for this.
To convert ETH to BNB, your first have to add the Binance Smart Chain network to your Metamask wallet and convert native ETH to BEP-20 ETH (Binance-Pegged ETH) using the Celer bridge.
When the transaction is complete, you can head over to Pancakeswap and swap BEP20 ETH for BNB and the BNB should be available in your wallet in a few minutes.
Below is a step-by-step guide showing how you can convert ETH to BNB on your Metamask wallet.
Step 1: Add the Binance Smart Chain to your Metamask wallet.
Before attempting to convert from ETH to BNB on your Metamask wallet, you need to configure your wallet to work with the Binance Smart Chain (or BNB Smart Chain) since BNB is the native currency of the network.
To add the network to Metamask automatically, go to ChainList.org and connect your wallet. After that, click [Add To Metamask] under “Binance Smart Chain Mainnet” and approve network addition on the Metamask window to add the BSC network to your wallet.
If you don’t want to connect your wallet to ChainList, then we have a guide on how to add Binance Smart Chain to Metamask manually.
Step 2: Add the Binance-Pegged ETH token to your wallet.
Now since you will be converting from ETH to BEP-20 ETH (Binance Pegged ETH) before eventually swapping to BNB, you need to add the Binance-Pegged ETH token to your wallet on the Binance Smart Chain.
To do this, scroll down to the bottom of the Metamask window and click [Import tokens]. Next, paste the contract address of Binance-Pegged ETH “0x2170Ed0880ac9A755fd29B2688956BD959F933F8”, click [Add Custom Token] and then [Import Tokens] to add the token to your wallet.
To get a detailed guide, check out our article on how to add BEP20 ETH to Metamask.
After adding the token to your wallet, switch back to the Ethereum Mainnet on Metamask.
Step 3: Open the Celer Bridge website and connect your wallet.
Next, open the Celer cBridge website on a new tab on your web browser. Click [Connect Wallet], select [Metamsk] from the list of compatible wallets, and approve the wallet connection request on the Metamask window.
Step 4: Select “Ethereum Mainnet” and “BNB Chain” as the networks and ETH as the coin to be bridged.
After connecting your wallet, select Ethereum Mainnet in the From section and BNB Chain in the To section then choose ETH as the coin to be bridged across these two networks.
Step 5: Enter the amount of ETH you want to convert, hit [Transfer], and confirm on Metamask.
Next, enter the amount of ETH you want to convert and wait for cBridge to calculate the estimated amount of BEP20 ETH you will receive in your wallet.
After that, review the bridge fee, the minimum number of ETH tokens to be received and the estimated time of arrival then click [Transfer].
Hit [Confirm Transfer] on the dialog.
Next, click [Confirm] on the Metamask pop-up window to confirm the token transfer.
Step 6: Wait for the transaction to complete.
Click [Done] and wait for the transaction to complete. Bridging tokens on the Celer cBridge can take anywhere from 5 to 20mins to complete. Typically, the transaction shouldn’t exceed the estimated time of arrival.
When the transaction is complete, Open Metamask and switch to the Binance Smart Chain to view your BEP-20 ETH balance.
Step 7: Open Pancakeswap and connect your wallet.
Now you will need to convert the BEP20 (or Binance-Pegged) ETH you got from cBridge back to BNB. To do this, we will use Pancakeswap which is the most popular DEX on the Binance Smart Chain.
Open the Pancakeswap Exchange website on your web browser, click [Connect Wallet], select [Metamask] from the list of compatible wallets, and approve the connection request on Metamask to connect your wallet to the exchange.
Step 8: Swap BEP-20 ETH for BNB on Pancakeswap.
Next, select ETH as the token to be swapped and BNB as the coin to be converted to then enter the amount of ETH to be swapped to BNB.
After that, click [Swap] and [Confirm Swap] the approve the transaction on the popup Metamask window.
Swapping tokens on the Pancakaswap DEX typically takes anywhere from 3 – 5mins to complete. Once the transaction is complete, Pancakeswap will show a notification on the website and you can also track the transaction status using the BscScan link provided in the dialog.
Open Metamask and you should see your BNB balance. With this, you have successfully converted ETH to BNB on Metamask.
Can I Swap ETH To BNB On Metamask With Binance?
Yes, you can swap ETH to BNB on Metamask with Binance since Binance can also act as a bridge between two blockchains.
To swap ETH to BNB with Binance, you need a Binance account. If you haven’t created a Binance account, you can register for the crypto exchange using this link.
After creating an account on Binance, sign into the exchange using your account email address/phone number and password.
Now, to convert ETH to BNB you also need to transfer some ETH to Binance from Metamask. To do this, go to your Fiat and Spot wallet on Binance and click [Deposit].
Next, select ETH as the coin to deposit, choose Ethereum (ERC20) as the network to be used for deposit, and copy your Binance ETH wallet address.
Open Metamask and ensure your wallet is connected to the Ethereum Mainnet, select your ETH balance, and hit [Send].
Now, paste the ETH wallet address you copied earlier from Binance, enter the amount of ETH you intend to convert, and hit [Next]. Review the transaction details and click [Confirm] to approve the transfer.
Once the ETH you sent from Metamask is available on your Binance account, you will need to convert it to Binance Coin (BNB) directly on Binance.
To do this we will be using the Convert feature on Binance. Go to the Binance Convert page, select ETH in the From section, and BNB in the To section.
Next, enter the amount of ETH you want to convert to BNB, hit [Preview Conversion], and wait a few seconds to get a price quote then click [Convert] to swap your ETH to BNB.
After this, the equivalent amount of BNB should be available on your Binance account and you will need to transfer BNB back to your Metamask wallet since the conversion is complete.
To transfer BNB from Binance to Metamask, go back to your Metamask wallet and switch back to the Binance Smart Chain then copy your Metamask BNB wallet address.
Navigate to your Fiat and Spot wallet on Binance and click [Withdraw]. Select BNB as the coin to be transferred, paste the wallet address you copied earlier from Metamask and select “BNB Smart Chain (BEP20)” as the network to be used for the transaction.
Finally, enter the amount of BNB you want to transfer to your Metamask wallet and click [Withdraw]. Complete the 2-step verification and click [Submit] to approve the transaction.
The transaction should typically anywhere between 3 – 5mins to complete and once the BNB is available on your Metamask wallet, you can trade it for other tokens on the BSC networks.
And that’s it, you have successfully converted from ETH to BNB on Metamask using Binance as the cross-chain bridge.
Is MetaMask BNB BEP2 or BEP20?
Metamask only supports BEP20 BNB since that is the native currency of the Binance Smart Chain (or BNB Smart Chain) which is compatible with Metamask.
There are 2 BNB Chains – the BNB Beacon Chain (BEP2) and the BNB Smart Chain (BEP20) and BNB is the native currency of both chains. Since Metamask doesn’t support the BNB Beacon Chain, you cannot transfer BEP2 BNB to your Metamask wallet.
Wrapping Up
ETH and BNB are two well-known cryptocurrencies that are deployed on completely different blockchains – ETH on the Ethereum blockchain and BNB on both BNB Chains.
Since they’re on different blockchains, you cannot convert from one to another directly on a non-custodial wallet like Metamask or various decentralized exchanges.
To convert from ETH to BNB, you have to either use a decentralized cross-chain bridge like the Celer cBridge (and eventually, Pancakeswap) which we recommended in the article, or a centralized crypto exchange like Binance which supports cross-chain crypto conversions.
And that will be it for this article. We hope you were able to convert your ETH to BNB on Metamask using any of the methods discussed in the guide.
