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What is PulseChain, and how is it different?

PulseChain is a proof-of-stake blockchain and a hard fork of Ethereum mainnet. It runs the same contracts at the same addresses as Ethereum, on validators of its own, and a transaction costs a fraction of a cent.

3 min readUpdated Oct 12, 2026

In short

  • A layer 1 of its own, chain ID 369, live since May 2023.
  • The same addresses and contracts as Ethereum, up to block 17,233,000.
  • Fees are paid in PLS and cost a fraction of a cent.

A hard fork, in plain words

PulseChain and Ethereum share one beginning. They have the same first block and the same history up to block 17,233,000. From that block on they are two separate chains, each with its own validators and its own future.

So every contract and every balance Ethereum had at the block before it, 17,232,999, exists on PulseChain too. Nothing was taken from Ethereum, and Ethereum carried on unchanged.

One address, holding 2 ETH and 1,000 DAI

One chain

Up to block 17,233,000

  • 2 ETH
  • 1,000 DAI

Ethereum

Carries on unchanged

  • 2 ETH
  • 1,000 DAI

The DAI is backed, as before

PulseChain

A chain of its own from here

  • 2 PLS
  • 1,000 pDAI

Same contract, nothing behind it

The same address on both. Spend on one chain and the other does not change.

Ethereum and PulseChain, side by side

Ethereum PulseChain
Your address The same key, the same address
Contracts at the fork The same code, at the same address
Chain ID1369
Fees are paid inETHPLS
A transfer costsOften dollarsA fraction of a cent
A block arrivesEvery 12 secondsAbout every 10 seconds
To run a validator32 ETH32 million PLS
A token is calledERC20PRC20, the same standard
The token at DAI’s addressDAI, backedpDAI, unbacked

The tokens it is known by

Five names come up before any others. Each has a guide of its own.

What newcomers get wrong

  • My Ethereum balance is on PulseChain too

    Only what an address held at the fork block was carried over, once. What you hold on Ethereum today is not on PulseChain, and the other way round.

  • The USDC on PulseChain is a dollar

    The token at USDC’s Ethereum address is pUSDC. The fork carried the contract over without the money behind it, and it trades far below a dollar. The USDC that holds a dollar here is a different token, brought over the bridge.

  • Any network will do for a withdrawal

    An exchange withdrawal has to name PulseChain. Sent over Ethereum, the coins arrive on Ethereum.

Forked tokens, explained

Who started it

PulseChain was started by Richard Heart, the founder of HEX. The fork activated in May 2023 and the chain has produced blocks since.

Sources

  1. PulseChain’s mainnet repository: chain ID 369, and balances carried over as of block 17,232,999
  2. PulseScan: block 17,233,000, the first that is PulseChain’s own, 10 May 2023
  3. PulseChain’s testnet repository: ten-second slots against Ethereum’s twelve, 32 million to register a validator, fee burning
  4. ethereum.org: twelve-second slots and the 32 ETH validator deposit
  5. PulseChain: the network’s settings, the ways onto it, and what it calls each token

Questions people ask

No. PulseChain is a layer 1: it has its own validators and settles its own blocks. It does not post its transactions to Ethereum, and Ethereum does not secure it.

Check yourself

Three questions. Nothing is kept or sent.

Question 1 of 3

You hold 5 ETH on Ethereum today. How much PLS does that give you on PulseChain?

Which coin pays the fee for a transaction on PulseChain?

Is PulseChain a layer 2 of Ethereum?

0/3

Worth another read. The sections above have the answers.

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