PulseX

PulseX enables the exchange of tokens (“PRC20s”) on PulseChain. It functions similarly to Uniswap on Ethereum. It allows users to swap PulseChain's native token PLS for PulseX's token PLSX.

What is PulseX and Why Did People Give It a Billion Dollars?

A disclaimer on PulseX’s website reads, “By sacrificing your crypto you do NOT buy PLSX. You can give your crypto away, sacrifice it as a political statement.”

Depending on whether you ask detractors or supporters, this clause is either a loophole to avoid being labelled a security by the SEC, or evidence that it’s the next Bitconnect.

Assuming most of the funds sacrificed were de facto investments made with the expectation of profit, nor came from wallets associated with the team to inflate the project, how did a chain led by Richard Heart, founder of controversial cryptocurrency Hex, become one of the largest crowdfunding campaigns in crypto history?

And, why is discussion almost entirely limited to the Hex community?

This article will explain what some believe Pulsechain and PulseX will do. It will also list the reasons some believe the project is a scam.

What Problem Does Pulsechain Solve?

Hundreds of successful DApps have launched on Ethereum but the network’s popularity has made it expensive to use and slow. In 2021, gas fees — the price to validate transactions — occasionally reached hundreds of dollars.

This made developers realize the potential of new Layer 1 chains — like Solana, Binance Smart Chain, and Polygon — that host their own DApps. Some of these chains are not compatible with Ethereum and require bridging solutions to interoperate. Others, like Polygon, are compatible with Ethereum.

For users, the most obvious benefit of using an EVM-compatible chain is that you can swap an ERC-20 token on that DEX, or buy a project token from your chain on an Ethereum DEX like Uniswap.

When building a Layer 1 chain, developers can theoretically copy the entirety of Ethereum’s code, create a radically different protocol, or, as in the case of BSC, make some improvements to it.

In crypto language, a “fork” of a blockchain means an improved version, with developers making changes to the protocol and its rules. When Ethereum makes upgrades, e.g. the London upgrade, they are called forks as well.

According to founder Richard Heart, Pulsechain will be a fork of Ethereum. The extent of the changes is not yet known — no code has been released to the public. However, the main claims are:

• 4x throughput

• Proof of Stake

• Deflationary mechanism

Additionally, all major DApps from Ethereum will also be forked. In other words, the goal is to copy Ethereum and have a built-out ecosystem from the start.

What is PulseX?

As the Ethereum ecosystem will be copied over to Pulsechain, PulseX will be the fork of Uniswap.

It is intended to be the main DEX of the Pulsechain ecosystem. For reference, PancakeSwap is also a fork of Uniswap and achieved this analogous function on Binance Smart Chain.

DEXs like SushiSwap and Uniswap have their own governance tokens — SUSHI and UNI, respectively — which grant voting rights to holders. PLSX will be PulseX’s token, and people who sacrificed get a number of “points” based on the size and timing of their contribution. These points correspond to a quantity of PLSX to be airdropped to their wallets once the exchange launches.

Likewise, PLS — Pulsechain’s native cryptocurrency — will be airdropped to those who sacrificed for that project.

The price of PLSX and PLS will start at $0 and subsequent price targets are anybody’s guess.

Many believe that Pulse will launch in March or April and PulseX towards the end of the year.

Will Pulse Solve Ethereum Congestion?

Richard Heart has said that the goal of Pulsechain is not to compete with Ethereum, but to decrease the burden on the network.

Besides forking Ethereum, the project will also copy the chain’s state. Every wallet will get a match of their ERC-20 tokens on Pulsechain. In other words, it will be a massive airdrop.

For example, if you have 10 eHEX (Ethereum network HEX), you will get an additional 10 pHEX (Pulsechain HEX) on Pulsechain.

However, there is no way to peg the price of the same token on Ethereum and Pulsechain tokens, meaning that the latter may be worthless, or more expensive.