Last night, I was taught another lesson by the mainnet’s gas fees. I originally just wanted to clear a few small transactions, but after going back and forth with confirmations and signing a few times, the fees ended up looking more conspicuous than the principal… On the other hand, just a couple of clicks on L2 and it’s done—the experience is really smooth. Recently, there’s been talk of a chain upgrade/maintenance, and the group chat started speculating, “Will the project move?” I was a bit anxious for the first couple of minutes too, but later I realized whether or not it moves doesn’t really affect someone like me, a small retail user. The key is still not to get stuck on a cross-chain bridge.

My compromise now is kind of old-school: for frequent day-to-day small actions, I try to keep them on L2 to save time and money; but for anything I plan to hold long-term, I still want the path to “exit to mainnet” to be workable at any time. In plain terms, there are two things: choose a cross-chain bridge where you can verify the on-chain data clearly and the process isn’t too convoluted; and don’t rush to cross chains before or after upgrades—better to wait half a day if needed. Experience is experience, but whether you can safely get your funds back is the real bottom line.