How to make a donation to LINCD on Gitcoin

In this guide, we will show you how to make a donation using Gitcoin. Additionally, you will learn how to connect to the Polygon network on your Metamask wallet and we will provide you multiple options to get Matic (Polygon) tokens so you can transact with minimal fees.

Donating on Gitcoin

Requirements: GitHub account and a crypto wallet.

1) Add the LINCD project to your cart (you can find the donation page here)

2) Head to checkout by clicking the cart at the top of the page

3) Sign in with your GitHub account

4) Choose an amount.

You can select from a wide array of currencies, so pick the most convenient for you to donate.

In this example, a $10 donation in DAI or USDT gives about $93,19 in funding for LINCD!

And $0.5 will go back in the pool that gets spread between all public good projects.

5) Choose standard checkout for a normal transfer through the Ethereum network. Though the average fee of a transaction on Ethereum right now is about $35. To save on transaction cost you can choose Polygon instead (about $1 transaction cost), as long as you have funds on the Polygon network. See more instructions below on how to transfer funds to Polygon.

6) Connect a wallet (Metamask is the most popular)

7) Sign the transaction with your wallet, once done your donation will be complete!

Last but not least!

Take one more moment to verify your Twitter or Google account or your phone number this increases the number of matching funds from your transaction.

We really appreciate the time you have spent donating to our open-sourced project. We can achieve a lot with your contributions, comment on the donation page so we can say thank you personally. 🙏

About using Polygon

Polygon is a chain that will allow you to transact without paying extortionate Ethereum fees. Until Ethereum sorts out its high gas problem, Polygon is a great alternative as a layer 2 solution. First, you will need a crypto wallet connected to the Polygon network. In this example, we use Metamask as the wallet.

How to get Metamask

If you don’t have Metamask installed yet, here is a great guide to get you started.

How to add Polygon network to MetaMask

If you’re using MetaMask, you can go to https://polygonscan.com/

1. Click the button at the footer of the page to add the polygon network to MetaMask.
2. Sign the transaction that pops up in your wallet

Note: it will be called Matic(Polygon) Mainnet in MetaMask and look like this in your wallet extension.

Alternative:

You can also use this website: https://chainlist.org/

Chainlist has aggregated all of the available networks into one site making it easy for you to connect to any network of your choosing.

1. Find the Polygon Network (make sure it is not testnet) and click on “connect wallet”
2. Sign the transaction that pops up in your wallet.

Getting Gas

Now you have it set up, let’s send some tokens to your Polygon wallet. The easiest way to get Matic tokens onto your MetaMask is by purchasing native Matic tokens and transferring them to your wallet. Below we will highlight a few ways of filling up on your gas token — Matic.

Method 1: Withdraw MATIC from Exchange

The most cost-effective way is to withdraw MATIC directly to your Polygon wallet from a supported exchange (Kucoin, Ascendex, MEXC, Okcoin, OKEx, BitForex).

Important! Always double check you have selected the correct network to transfer. You do this by selecting Polygon network from the drop-down menu, this is the same on most exchanges.

Method 2: Purchase with fiat on Transak

1. Go to https://global.transak.com/
2. Select “MATIC on the Polygon network” in the “You receive” box
3. Follow the prompts

Note: Transak currently limits the max transaction size to 500 USD

Method 3: Purchase with fiat on MoonPay

1. Go to https://www.moonpay.com/buy
2. Select MATIC — Polygon (Polygon) as your token
3. Follow the prompts

Method 4: Swap For Gas

Requirement: you must have a token with value in your wallet on the Polygon network.

The best part about this method is you don’t need any MATIC to begin with in order to swap for MATIC.

1. Switch to the “Polygon” network in MetaMask (if you haven’t already)
2. Go to https://wallet.polygon.technology/gas-swap
3. Choose the amount of MATIC you want to get (click a preset amount or type in your own custom amount), e.g. 1–2 MATIC
4. Under “Swap from”, choose a token with value in your wallet that you want to partially convert into MATIC

Note: ETH will be written as “Ether (PoS-WETH)”

1. Click “Approve” and sign the gasless transaction in MetaMask
2. Click “Swap” and sign the gasless transaction in MetaMask

Within 30 seconds, you should see your MATIC balance in MetaMask increase by the amount you specified.

Method 5: Moving funds from Ethereum to Polygon/Matic (still high transaction cost to do this once)

This bridge option is great:

🧬 Evo DeFi Token Bridge | Transfer Coins Between Block Chains

1. In the dropdown select the network you are moving funds “From” (Ethereum in this example). Make sure your Metamask network is set to “Ethereum Mainnet” if you are bridging your tokens from Ethereum to Polygon. You can connect your wallet here.
2. Select Polygon as the network you are moving token “To”.
3. Choose your token
4. As you connected your wallet the address should show up here. The tokens will transfer to the same wallet address but on the Polygon network.
5. Set the amount and sign the transaction.

Method 6: Moving funds from Binance to Polygon with Metamask (only $0.50 transaction cost!)

In this method, you will move an alternative token such as USDT from Binance Smart Chain (BSC) to Polygon. The advantage to using Binance smart chain is the low gas fees.

Requirements: Make sure you have added Smart Chain to MetaMask (can also use Chainlist site mentioned above) and you’ve added the Polygon/Matic network to Metamask.

1) Get USDT on your BSC wallet. Transfer USDT from your Binance exchange account to your Metamask wallet. Make sure to use BEP-20 network to transfer.

2) Go to this bridge https://bridge.evodefi.com, connect Metamask wallet Binance Smart Chain

The process is the same as above but select from BSC to Polygon, token USDT.

(If you get an error that your balance cannot be loaded, you may need to turn on a VPN)

Finally, click Approve & sign with Metamask

Once you sign with Metamask and your transaction is complete. USDT should be in your Polygon wallet (you may have to wait a few minutes).

You can now open Metamask and switch to Matic (polygon) mainnet to confirm the funds have arrived.

Important! — Convert some USDT to MATIC to pay for transactions using Method 4: Swap for Gas (see above).

Once you have enough funds in your wallet on the Polygon/Matic network you can return to Gitcoin to complete the checkout 👍

Thank you for your support! 🙏

About LINCD

LINCD — Linked Interoperable Code and Data is an open-sourced project focused on making it easier to use and publish structured data on the web. Its primary objective is to enable developers to create components that are interoperable by nature both on a coding and data level. You can learn more by visiting our website and feel free to join our community. We are offering free resources to learn about Web3 and the new era of interoperability.

LINCD Website: https://www.lincd.org/