A Polygon bridge explorer is really two explorers plus a bridge dashboard: one explorer for the source chain, one for the destination chain, and a history view — usually the Polygon Portal — that links them. Every bridge transfer creates at least two transactions with different hashes on different chains. Once you know which step you're on, finding its status takes seconds.
Most "my bridge is stuck" messages we see fall into two cases: someone is looking for their deposit on the wrong chain, or a withdrawal has been ready for days and was never claimed. Both are easy to diagnose if you know what to look for. This guide covers the official PoS bridge in detail, then Agglayer and third-party bridges.
Quick answer
Deposits (Ethereum → Polygon) usually land in about 7–8 minutes and need no action from you. Withdrawals (Polygon → Ethereum) wait for a checkpoint, often 30–60+ minutes, and then require a claim transaction on Ethereum that you pay for in ETH. Track both in the Polygon Portal history and verify each hash on the relevant explorer.
How the Polygon PoS bridge works
The PoS bridge is Polygon's original, official bridge between Ethereum and Polygon PoS. It's a lock-and-mint design:
- When you deposit, your tokens are locked in a contract on Ethereum. Polygon's validators, via the Heimdall layer, pick up that event and relay it to Polygon through a mechanism called state sync. A matching token is then minted to your address on Polygon.
- When you withdraw, your tokens are burned on Polygon. Once that burn is included in a checkpoint submitted to Ethereum, you can send an exit (claim) transaction on Ethereum that proves the burn, and the locked tokens are released to you.
The asymmetry in timing comes straight from this design. Deposits only need validators to notice an Ethereum event. Withdrawals need Ethereum to be convinced — and Ethereum only trusts Polygon's state through checkpoints. We explain checkpoints and how to watch them live on our Heimdall checkpoint explorer.
| Deposit (ETH → Polygon) | Withdrawal (Polygon → ETH) | |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanism | State sync | Checkpoint + exit proof |
| Typical wait | About 7–8 minutes | 30–60+ minutes, then claim |
| Your transactions | One, on Ethereum | Two: burn and claim |
| Gas paid in | ETH | POL, then ETH |
Typical PoS bridge deposit time from Ethereum to Polygon, once the Ethereum transaction is confirmed.
Using the Polygon Portal for bridge history
The Polygon Portal is the official bridge interface and the first place to look for status. Connect the wallet you bridged with and open the transaction history. Each transfer shows its direction, token, amount and a status: in progress, ready to claim, or completed. Links next to each step open the corresponding transaction on the relevant explorer.
A few things we've learned from using it:
- History is tied to the address. If you bridged from a different wallet or used a different interface, the transfer may not appear — but it still exists on-chain.
- "Ready to claim" means action needed. The Portal won't claim for you on the PoS bridge. Until you click Claim and confirm on Ethereum, the funds stay locked.
- Keep ETH for the claim. The claim is an Ethereum transaction. Without ETH in the same wallet for gas, you can't finish.
The Portal is also where old MATIC on Ethereum can still be migrated to POL, which occasionally confuses people who expect a bridge transaction and see a migration instead.
Agglayer and the Unified Bridge
Polygon's broader strategy is Agglayer, a cross-chain settlement layer that connects multiple chains so they can share liquidity and move assets without every chain issuing its own incompatible wrapped tokens. Its bridge component, the Unified Bridge, uses a single bridge contract on Ethereum shared by all connected chains.
For you as a user, the practical differences are:
- Transfers between Agglayer-connected chains are tracked in the Polygon Portal alongside PoS bridge transfers.
- Depending on the route, the destination side may require a claim step, just like PoS withdrawals. The Portal shows whether a transfer is claimable.
- Each connected chain has its own explorer. To verify, you look up the source transaction on one and the arrival (or claim) on the other.
Polygon's documentation on Agglayer and the Unified Bridge is the authoritative source on which chains are connected and how claims work, and it's updated as new chains join. We keep this section deliberately general for that reason.
One related note: Polygon zkEVM's sequencer shut down in July 2026. If you still have assets there, don't use this guide's PoS steps — see our Polygon zkEVM explorer page for the forced-withdrawal and claim process.
How to track a bridge transaction on both chains
Here's the method we use to follow any PoS bridge transfer end to end, regardless of what the dashboard says.
Tracking a deposit (Ethereum → Polygon)
- Find the Ethereum transaction. In your wallet's activity, copy the hash of the deposit and open it on Etherscan. Status must be Success. If it's pending, the bridge hasn't started yet.
- Wait for the relay. Give it about 7–8 minutes after confirmation. Sometimes longer when Ethereum is congested.
- Check your Polygon address. Open your address in our Polygon wallet explorer or PolygonScan. The credit shows up as a token transfer into your address — typically a mint from the zero address
0x0000…0000. - Note the new hash. The Polygon-side transaction has a different hash from the Ethereum one. Searching the Ethereum hash on a Polygon explorer will find nothing — that's expected, not a failure.
That last point trips up more people than anything else. There's no single hash that works on both chains.
Tracking a withdrawal (Polygon → Ethereum)
First, look up the burn transaction on Polygon and confirm Success. Note its block number. Then compare it with the Bor block range of the latest checkpoint — our Heimdall widget shows it live. Once your block is covered, the Portal switches to "ready to claim". Send the claim, then look up that Ethereum transaction on Etherscan: when it succeeds, the tokens are in your Ethereum wallet.
If you want to watch the checkpoint arrive on Ethereum yourself, the checkpoint contract is 0x86E4Dc95c7FBdBf52e33D563BbDB00823894C287 (the RootChain address reported by Heimdall's own /chainmanager/params endpoint on our check). Each new checkpoint appears there as a transaction.
Third-party bridges and how to track them
Plenty of people never touch the official bridge. They use third-party bridges and cross-chain protocols that move assets between Polygon and dozens of other chains, often faster than the PoS bridge's withdrawal path because they use liquidity pools on both sides rather than waiting for checkpoints.
Tracking these follows the same logic with a different dashboard:
- On a Polygon explorer you'll see your tokens going into the bridge's contract (outgoing) or arriving from it (incoming). That's half the story.
- On the other chain's explorer you'll see the matching transaction.
- The bridge's own tracker ties them together. For example, USDT0 transfers use LayerZero messaging, and LayerZero Scan lets you search by source transaction hash to see the delivery status on the destination chain.
Always check which token you receive. Different bridges may deliver different versions of "the same" asset — for instance USDC.e instead of native USDC on Polygon. Our USDT and USDC explorer guide lists the correct contract addresses so you can tell them apart. And if you'd rather skip bridging entirely, you can buy POL or USDC on a regulated exchange that holds licences in several jurisdictions and lets you withdraw directly to the Polygon network — just check the withdrawal network says Polygon PoS, not Ethereum, before you confirm.
Stuck bridge transaction? A troubleshooting checklist
When a bridge transfer seems stuck, work through these checks in order. In our experience, one of the first four solves almost every case.
- Is the source transaction confirmed? If the Ethereum deposit or Polygon burn is still pending or failed, the bridge never started. A pending transaction on Polygon is a mempool problem — see our guide to stuck and pending Polygon transactions.
- Are you looking on the right chain? Deposits arrive on Polygon; withdrawals arrive on Ethereum. The destination has a different hash.
- Is the withdrawal waiting for a checkpoint? Compare your burn block with the latest checkpoint range. If it's not covered yet, all you can do is wait.
- Is it ready but unclaimed? The most common "stuck withdrawal" of all. Open the Portal with the same wallet and look for Claim.
- Do you have ETH for the claim? No ETH, no claim.
- Is the token visible in your wallet? Funds can arrive while your wallet simply doesn't display the token. Check the address on an explorer, and add the token contract manually if needed.
- Did you use a third-party bridge? Check that bridge's own tracker with the source hash.
If all of that checks out and something is genuinely wrong, gather the source hash, destination address, token and amount, and contact the bridge's official support with links to both explorers. That package makes the difference between a quick answer and a week of back-and-forth.
Which explorers to use for Polygon bridge tracking
For the Polygon side, any major explorer works. PolygonScan labels bridge contracts clearly; Blockscout decodes the calls; our free live explorer gives you a shareable page you can send to support. For Ethereum, Etherscan is the standard. For the overall picture of Polygon explorers and what each does best, see our ranking of the best Polygon explorers.
The core lesson stays simple: a bridge transfer is two or three separate transactions, each with its own hash, on its own chain. Find each one, check its status, and you'll always know exactly where your funds are.