How to bridge MOVE to Movement with Pontem Wallet and earn rewards on Movement L2

Movement, the pioneering Move-based L2 for Ethereum, is finally live on mainnet and already supported by both Pontem Wallet and Liquidswap. Here’s how you can engage with this exciting new chain, get MOVE on Movement, and swap it for USDT on Liquidswap. 

What is the Movement blockchain?

Key facts: Movement as a network of rollups

Movement is a new L2 solution for Ethereum that uses the Move language and the MoveVM virtual machine. Rather than a rollup, it’s a network of Ethereum rollups that benefit from the speed and security of Move. 

Movement Labs, the collective behind Movement, has created a new virtual machine, MoveVM. It differs from the VMs that power Aptos and Sui in that it supports both Move bytecode and EVM bytecode, allowing for apps that are compatible with both ecosystems.

For even more flexibility, Movement supports different availability layers, such as Celestia. For more on data availability, see our series of articles:

‍Guide to Data Availability: Part 1

Guide to Data Availability: Part 2

Guide to Data Availability: Part 3

Guide to Data Availability: Part 4

Developers can use Movement to build app-specific L2s for DeFi, gaming, AI, etc. These rollups can also be of different types: optimistic, ZK, or fast-finality - a new rollup format proposed by Movement. Movement Network acts as the L1 for all these diverse L2s, the first of which is the ZK rollup called M2, also developed by Movement Labs. Like Aptos, Movement M2 boasts sub-second transaction finality.

We should note the interesting and fundamental difference between Movement and Pontem’s own L2 project, Lumio. While Movement is a network of rollups that use MoveVM and are secured by Ethereum, Lumio is VM-agnostic: you can build Lumio rollups that execute on any virtual machine. Moreover, it can also settle on any blockchain, be it Ethereum, Solana, Aptos, etc. 

Decentralized shared sequencers

Very importantly, Movement’s sequencers are decentralized. A sequencer is a crucial part of any rollup: it collects user transactions into blocks, orders (sequences) them, and sends them to the executor. The majority of Ethereum rollups use centralized sequencers run by the rollup’s team itself because it’s cheaper and faster. Plus, this way the bulk of the rollup’s fees goes back to the project, as the sequencer is the main revenue generator for an L2. 

However, as the new wave of L2’s emerge, decentralized sequencers finally become a viable model. On an L2 that uses a non-EVM virtual machine like MoveVM or SVM (Solana), sequencing fees become so low that it doesn’t make sense to run a centralized sequencer for the revenue alone. And the speed offered by MoveVM, for example, allows for efficient decentralized sequencers that don’t cause lags. 

Movement relies on a network of decentralized shared sequencers, called M1. Apart from ordering transactions, they will also allow assets to flow between Move-based and Ethereum-based rollups.

MOVE token and airdrop

Utility

Unlike optimistic rollups that use ETH as their gas token, Movement M2 (the ZK rollup we mentioned earlier) uses MOVE. Its has wide-ranging utility: 

• Paying transaction fees;
• Securing the decentralized sequencer: users have to stake MOVE if they want to participate in sequencing;
• Incentives for the community: the MOVE airdrop, XXX campaigns;
• Cross-rollup asset transfers:
• Governance, etc.

MOVE airdrop and listing

MOVE was launched on December 9, 2024 on Ethereum and was immediately listed by Binance, Coinbase, ByBit, and other major exchanges.  Like many recently listed tokens, MOVE has been in a downtrend since listing, going from the peak price of $1.3 to $0.44. 

The token’s launch was accompanied by a massive (and still ongoing) airdrop of 1 billion MOVE (10% of the total supply), worth over $800 million at TGE. Eligible users could either claim MOVE immediately on Ethereum or wait and claim it on the Movement M2 mainnet with a 1.25x multiplier. 

Movement M2 launched on public mainnet beta on March 10, 2025. You can already interact with the mainnet beta in Pontem Wallet and on Liquidswap, the leading DEX in the Move ecosystem, also built by Pontem. 

Here is how to switch to Movement mainnet in Pontem Wallet: 

1. While connected to Aptos mainnet, click on the account name in the top left (like Account 1);
2. Click on the word Mainnet (in green) to go to the list of Move-based network modes.

3. Select Movement (note that Movement Suzuka, Bardock, and Porto are all testnets).

4. Done! Your Pontem Wallet is now connected to Movement M2 mainnet. Your address will remain the same, but the account balance will now be displayed in MOVE. 

How to bridge MOVE from Ethereum with the canonical Movement bridge 

So how do you get some MOVE on the Movement M2 mainnet? The MOVE token traded on all major exchanges is an ERC-20 token, which can only be withdrawn to Ethereum. And while M2 does have a DEX where you can buy the “real” MOVE, you will need to have some in your account to pay for gas in order to make the first swap. 

For now, the only way to get MOVE on mainnet (unless a friend can drop some in your wallet) is to bridge it from Ethereum. 

Movement’s official bridge interface is powered by LayerZero, same as the main Aptos bridge widget on our Liquidswap website.  

The Movement bridge is currently in beta, and only some types of transfers are supported:

From Ethereum to Movement: 

• $MOVE: the daily cap for bridge transfers is 25 million MOVE;
• USDT, USDC, WETH, WBTC - no cap, but note that you’ll still need MOVE on Movement to perform any transactions (like swaps) with these coins.

From Movement to Ethereum: 

• USDTe, USDCe, WETHe, WBTCe - all of these are LayerZero bridged tokens. Native USDT and USDC aren’t available on Movement for now (in fact, on Aptos it took over a year for them to become available).
• Important! Bridging transactions from Movement to Ethereum can take up to 72 hours to complete. This is a precaution taken by LayerZero because Movement is a new network; Aptos users faced the same limitation at the beginning.
• Note that it’s not currently possible to bridge MOVE back from Movement to Ethereum.

Bridging MOVE from Ethereum to Movement - a step-by-step tutorial

1. Get some MOVE on Ethereum. You can buy it on major CEX exchanges, such as Binance or ByBit, or on a DEX like Uniswap. If you buy MOVE on a CEX, withdraw it to a non-custodial Ethereum wallet like MetaMask or Pontem.  Either way, prepare to pay a hefty transaction fee (around $10 to swap on a DEX or withdraw from a CEX).
2. Switch Pontem Wallet from Aptos mainnet to Movement mainnet (as described above) and connect it to the bridge at https://bridge.movementnetwork.xyz/;
3. Connect your Ethereum wallet (e.g. MetaMask or Pontem Wallet) and connect it to the bridge. You’ll need some ETH to pay the bridging fee. 

4. Enter the amount of MOVE to be bridged. Click on Bridge Move, approve the spending cap in MetaMask (for the whole MOVE balance) and wait for it to execute on-chain, which should take a couple of minutes. 

5. Confirm the bridging transaction itself; the fee should be less than $1 in ETH.

6. The bridge interface will change to “Processing transaction”. It can take up to 30 minutes for MOVE to arrive in your Movement wallet. 
7. Finally you should see the confirmation that bridging has been completed; the MOVE tokens should now be in your wallet. 

All in all, bridging MOVE from Ethereum remains a little bit costly: around $10 to buy MOVE on a DEX or withdraw from a CEX, plus around $0.50 in bridging fees. It probably makes sense doing it if you’re ready to buy at least $200 worth of MOVE; otherwise consider waiting until direct withdrawals to Movement mainnet from CEXes become available. 

How to swap MOVE for USDT on Liquidswap 

Movement mainnet is already available on Liquidswap, the leading DEX for the Move ecosystem built by Pontem. As of mid-March 2025, there is one pool with deep liquidity: MOVE/USDTe, or LayerZero USDT.

If you try to swap MOVE for USDC or any other token, you may see the warning “Pool not created” (in Direct routing mode) or “Route not found” (in Aggregate mode). 

By the way, did you know that Liquidswap now lets you choose between swapping one asset directly for another and choosing the most cost-efficient route? The latter can come in handy when the pool with the two assets has low liquidity and thus high slippage. Sometimes it’s better to make two swaps into large pools to minimize price impact - and Liquidswap automates it for you. 

Warning! Pay very close attention to the value in the Minimum Received field. In this example, we set to swap MOVE for USDC while in Aggregated mode - and while the engine does find a route (via USDT.e), the Minimum Received value is just 0.0089 USDC.e instead of 17 USDC because there is almost no liquidity in the USDT/USDC pool on Movement. 

As long as you swap into the correct pool (MOVE/USDT.e.), everything should be just as fast and smooth as when swapping on Aptos with Pontem Wallet. Your swap should complete in a couple of seconds and with almost no price impact. 

We will continue working on adding liquidity to pools on Movement, and you can also consider becoming a liquidity provider on this exciting new chain. Note, though, that you should avoid adding liquidity to near-empty pools, as this will produce an unpredictable and incorrect exchange rate. 

We at Pontem are excited about the launch of Movement and the possibilities that this new link between the Move and Ethereum ecosystems opens, in addition to the existing connection provided by Pontem’s own Lumio L2. Do try MOVE on Liquidswap while we are working on new integrations for Movement - and please tell us what you think about this new chain.