Layer 1 blockchain

PulseChain ticker PLS

No public-data lookups yet
3 reviewed developments
35 cited sources

Summary

Proof of stake on the PulseChain beacon chain. The consensus configuration in PulseChain's Lighthouse fork sets 10-second slots and 32-slot epochs, a validator balance of 32 million PLS, and upgrades through Capella, activated in the first epochs after genesis. Validators propose and attest; LMD-GHOST picks the head, and Casper FFG justifies a checkpoint once two-thirds of stake attests to it and finalizes it when the next one is justified, with slashing set in the same presets. Execution runs the EVM in Go-Pulse or Erigon-Pulse, forks of Go-Ethereum and Erigon. Go-Pulse's chain configuration starts PulseChain at block 17,233,000 with a PrimordialPulse fork step that credits balances from a sacrifice-credit file and replaces the copied Ethereum staking deposit contract with PulseChain's own. Go-Pulse's v3.3.0 notes say PulseChain remains on the Shanghai and Capella upgrades. 2 6 7 12 13 14 15 20

Design

System: Layer 1 blockchainPulseChain (chain ID 369) is an independent proof-of-stake chain with its own beacon chain and validators; it does not settle to another chain. It is a fork that copied Ethereum's full state up to block 17,232,999 (10 May 2023, UTC) and then continued as a separate network from block 17,233,000, launched in May 2023. PLS is its gas and staking coin. Its execution and consensus clients are forks of Ethereum client software published by the PulseChain team's GitLab organisation.
Settlement family: Ethereum / EVM
Scarce resource: Stake (proof of stake)
State model: Accounts
Finality: Economic finality
Who makes blocks: Validators that deposit 32 million PLS through PulseChain's deposit contract (address 0x3693693693693693693693693693693693693693); one validator proposes the block for each 10-second slot and committees attest. Registration runs through PulseChain's staking launchpad. The number of active validators and how many operators run them were not measured for this profile.
Fork choice: LMD-GHOST follows the branch with the greatest weight of stake-backed attestations, using the most recent vote of each validator, with a proposer score boost of 40% in the configuration; Casper FFG finalized checkpoints sit beneath it. Weight comes from staked PLS, not work. A read of PulseChain's checkpoint beacon API on 29 September 2026 showed epochs being justified and finalized.

Qualifications

Finality · Applies. Casper FFG gives economic finality: finalizing two conflicting checkpoints would need at least one-third of stake to be slashable, and the PulseChain presets keep slashing penalties. Blocks before finalization can still be reorganized. With 32 slots of 10 seconds, an epoch lasts 320 seconds. A read of PulseChain's checkpoint server on 29 September 2026 showed the finalized epoch one epoch behind the current justified epoch.
State origin · Applies. PulseChain's history and state up to block 17,232,999 are a copy of Ethereum's. PulseChain's readme says accounts that held balances at that block have a matching PLS balance on PulseChain, plus any sacrifice credits and refunds of Ethereum staking deposits. Contracts and token balances were copied too, so a token contract PulseChain inherited from Ethereum is a separate copy at an identical address; no cited source shows its original issuer supporting the copy.
Base fee destination · Applies. The London fee rules are active in Go-Pulse's PulseChain configuration, and its state transition code credits only the priority tip to the block's fee recipient; the base fee is credited to no account, so it is burned. PulseChain's site describes the chain as fee-burning. Buy-and-burn figures on PulseChain's site refer to PLSX, the PulseX exchange token, not to protocol fees.
Upgrade level · Applies. Go-Pulse v3.3.0 (30 September 2025) says PulseChain remains on the Shanghai and Capella upgrades although the client carries code for later upgrades. PulseChain's chain configuration and consensus configuration schedule no later upgrade as of 29 September 2026, so blob-carrying transactions are not active.
Client diversity · Partial. Node operators can choose Go-Pulse or Erigon-Pulse for execution and Prysm-Pulse or Lighthouse-Pulse for consensus, but all four are forks maintained in the same PulseChain GitLab organisation. Latest releases seen on 29 September 2026: Go-Pulse v3.3.0 (September 2025), Lighthouse-Pulse v2.5.1 (March 2026), Prysm-Pulse v2.3.0 (April 2024) and Erigon-Pulse v2.4.0 (February 2024).
Validator count · Unknown. PulseChain's beacon explorer address now says the beacon explorer is gone and lists validator tools; no validator or operator count was measured for this profile.

Tradeoffs

This view follows one way of thinking about design priorities, often called the blockchain trilemma. The design-priorities lesson sets out the counter-view. Read the design-priorities lesson.

Emphasizes: Decentralization and Security Contested
Gives up: Base-layer capacity and low node cost. PulseChain's own sources describe no scaling layer settling to it, and Go-Pulse v3.3.0 keeps the chain on Shanghai and Capella, so blob-carrying transactions are not active and all activity competes for block space on the base chain. Every full node must hold the whole copied Ethereum state, which PulseChain's node guide says makes storage needs high: it asks for 1.5 to 2 TB of SSD, and the first sync can take days.Decentralization rests on open validator entry through a deposit and a node guide that sets up a full node on an ordinary computer with Docker; validator count and operator concentration were not measured. Security rests on Casper FFG finality with slashing and inactivity penalties in PulseChain's presets. All four clients come from one GitLab organisation, two last released in 2024. PulseChain's site stresses speed, low cost and energy efficiency alongside decentralization and censorship resistance, with no published method; that claims all three priorities, so this reading is contested.
Full node at home: Practical at home 2 3 5PulseChain's node guide asks for 4 or more CPU cores, 16 GB or more of RAM and 2 TB or more of free SSD for its Docker Compose setup, and lists 1.5 TB for a full node and 7 TB for an archive node; the Go-Pulse README gives a 1 TB minimum. The guide warns that the copied Ethereum state up to block 17,232,999 makes storage needs high and the first sync can take days. The consensus client starts from PulseChain's own checkpoint server, so users trust it for the starting state. A validator needs a 32 million PLS deposit.
Throughput claims: No classified figure recorded

Scaling layers

No scaling layer recorded in this profile.

Capabilities

Capabilities of PulseChain: how each one is provided, or its research status
Capability	How it is provided	Notes and sources
Account abstraction	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Atomic swaps	Unknown	No trust-minimized cross-party swap mechanism on PulseChain was reviewed. EVM contracts could implement hash-locked swaps, but none was verified.
Authenticated data publication	Unknown	Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. PulseChain has not activated the upgrade that adds blob-carrying transactions, per Go-Pulse v3.3.0. 12
Light clients	Built into the protocolLimited scope	Sync committees: consensus produces what a light client checks, since the PulseChain beacon chain activated Altair at epoch 1 with a 512-member sync committee in the Lighthouse-Pulse configuration and presets. Limited: no light client or light-client data service for PulseChain was reviewed. 14 16
Native staking or delegation	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
On-chain governance	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Parallel execution	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Payment or state channels	Unknown	No payment or state channel network settling to PulseChain was found in PulseChain's own sources.
Programmable spending	Native (protocol or core-team software) Earlier definition	PulseChain runs the EVM, and its site says contracts are mainly written in Solidity, so spend conditions are smart contracts; contracts copied at the fork keep their code. 1 3 5
Protocol-verified messaging	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Reversible transfers or recovery	Unknown	Not yet assessed under this row's current definition.
Rollups	Unknown	No rollup settling to PulseChain was found in PulseChain's own sources.
Shielded transfers	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Signed partial offers	Unknown	Not yet assessed under this row's current definition.

Reading these values

How this feature is provided: Built into the protocol, core-team software or independent software says where a feature lives and who can change it. These are implementation layers, not quality: core-team software is not closer to the protocol than independent software.
Structured assessment pending: The shared review has not assessed this feature for any chain yet (Account abstraction, Native staking or delegation, On-chain governance, Parallel execution, Protocol-verified messaging and Shielded transfers). That does not mean it is absent, and a chain’s profile may already describe it.
Unknown: The review has not established this for this chain under the current definition; the note beside it says why. Unknown is not absent and not a low score. A feature reads “Not present” only when a source shows it is absent.
Earlier definition: Payment or state channels, Programmable spending and Rollups keep the earlier definition until the next fact-check. There, “Native” does not separate the protocol from core-team software, “Ecosystem software” does not say who publishes it, and “Partial” does not say which layer.
Reading across rows: The list of capabilities is incomplete. Do not read these rows as a chain leading or lagging overall.

Definitions, schema version and review history

Ecosystem & custody

Ecosystem products for PulseChain
Product type	Status	Notes and sources
Automated market makers	First-partyPulseX	PulseChain's site calls PulseX PulseChain's exchange and hosts PulseX data subgraphs, and the PulseChain GitLab organisation publishes the server that runs PulseX's web app. PulseX's site describes it as a fork of the Uniswap code with PLSX liquidity incentives; each trade funds PLSX buying and burning, per its own site. Who deployed and controls the exchange contracts, audits and liquidity depth were not reviewed. 1 22 23 As of Sep 29, 2026.
Issuer-native stablecoins	None found	Neither Circle's USDC contract list nor Tether's supported-protocol list includes PulseChain. Contract copies made at the fork and tokens brought over through the PulseChain Bridge (listed on PulseChain's site as DAI, USDC and USDT from Ethereum) are not issuer-listed deployments on PulseChain. 1 30 31 As of Sep 29, 2026.
Algorithmic stablecoins	Unknown	Algorithmic or hybrid stablecoins on PulseChain were not reviewed. As of Sep 29, 2026.
Bridges	First-partyPulseChain Bridge (Ethereum)	PulseChain's site points users to the PulseChain Bridge to move ETH and tokens from Ethereum, and lists the bridged versions as tokens from Ethereum. The bridge's own page lists ways to run its web app, including IPFS copies, and the PulseChain GitLab organisation publishes that web server. The site also lists third-party cross-chain swap services, which were not reviewed. Risk: PulseChain's readable sources do not document who approves bridge transfers, how many signatures are required, or who can upgrade the bridge contracts, so the trust model was not verified. A bridged token on PulseChain is a claim on assets held by the bridge on Ethereum and is only as sound as that bridge's contracts and operators. Tokens copied at the fork are not bridge-backed. 1 24 25 As of Sep 29, 2026.
Block explorers	First-partyPulseChain Block Explorer (scan.pulsechain.com)	PulseChain's readme lists a block explorer and a beacon explorer and welcomes third-party explorers. The block explorer is a fork of Blockscout kept in PulseChain's GitLab organisation, and its web page is a list of links to explorer front ends. On 29 September 2026 the beacon explorer address said the beacon explorer is gone and listed validator tools. Other explorers were not reviewed. Explorer data is provider-indexed, not consensus. 2 4 26 27 28 29 As of Sep 29, 2026.
Hardware wallets	ThinTrezor (through MetaMask or Rabby)	See custody rows: Trezor's PulseChain page names MetaMask and Rabby and says Trezor Suite does not support PulseChain; no Ledger page or Ledger Wallet network entry for PulseChain was found. 32 33 34 As of Sep 29, 2026.

Hardware-wallet custody

Hardware-wallet custody for PulseChain
Device maker	Status	What users can and cannot do
Ledger	UnknownSame as native: Unknown	Ledger's PulseChain coin page address returned not found, and neither Ledger's published currency list (@ledgerhq/cryptoassets 13.56.0) nor its wallet's EVM network configuration (@ledgerhq/live-common 36.0.0) has a PulseChain entry or chain ID 369. PulseChain's site names Internet Money, MetaMask and Brave Wallet as wallets but no hardware path. Signing PulseChain transactions with a Ledger device through a third-party wallet was not verified. 34 35 As of Sep 29, 2026.
Trezor	Through an intermediaryMetaMask or RabbySame as native: Unknown	Can: Use a Trezor Safe 3, Safe 5 or Safe 7 with PulseChain through MetaMask or Rabby, the third-party apps Trezor's PulseChain page lists Cannot: Manage PulseChain in Trezor Suite: Trezor's page says PulseChain is not supported there, and Suite's network configuration has no PulseChain entry 32 33 As of Sep 29, 2026.

Public data

iKnow Blockchain has no public-data lookups for PulseChain yet. This is a limit of the service, not a statement about the network.

Public-data lookups for PulseChain
Lookup	Status	What it covers and its limits
Address or account	Not available yet	Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet.
Tokens and assets	Not available yet	Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet.
NFTs	Not available yet	Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet.
Transactions	Not available yet	Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet.

A lookup covers one address or transaction from one provider. It is never a complete wallet, and an error or private value is reported as unknown, not zero. About public data · Connect your AI

Sourced developments

Developments: Reviewed Sep 29, 2026 Next review due Oct 9, 2026, 12:00 UTC.

Publication date · newest first

Published Jul 20, 2026ProductVerified against sources

PulseChain adds a Docker Compose setup for running a local node

PulseChain's mainnet repository added a Docker Compose setup that starts a local full node and exposes JSON-RPC at 127.0.0.1:8545, with setup scripts and a rewritten node guide. Commits two days later added agent skills for node setup, sync status and client upgrades, plus a prompt users can paste into an AI agent.
- Implementation:merged into the pulsechain-mainnet repository
- Release:available on the repository's master branch
- Activation:not a network change; applies to users who adopt the setup
Date basis: Commit timestamp 2026-07-20T20:54:30-05:00 (2026-07-21 UTC); the agent-skill commits are dated 2026-07-22.

Sources: PulseChain (GitLab, pulsechain-mainnet) — Add Docker Compose setup for running a local PulseChain node (commit e0577ab9) (external site) · PulseChain (GitLab, pulsechain-mainnet) — Running a PulseChain Node (external site) · PulseChain (GitLab, pulsechain-mainnet) — PulseChain Mainnet: master commits (Atom feed) (external site)
Published Mar 31, 2026ProtocolVerified against sources

Lighthouse-Pulse v2.5.1 security patch release

PulseChain released Lighthouse-Pulse v2.5.1, a patch release fixing two published security advisories in the yamux networking library. The notes advise all node operators running Lighthouse-Pulse to update and say there are no functional changes to the client.
- Implementation:shipped in lighthouse-pulse v2.5.1
- Release:released 2026-03-31; update advised for all Lighthouse-Pulse operators
- Activation:no activation height; takes effect when each node upgrades
Date basis: GitLab release timestamp 2026-03-31T04:19:36Z.

Sources: PulseChain (GitLab, lighthouse-pulse) — Lighthouse-Pulse v2.5.1 release notes (external site) · PulseChain (GitLab, lighthouse-pulse) — Lighthouse-Pulse releases (external site)
Published Sep 30, 2025ProtocolVerified against sources

Go-Pulse v3.3.0 rebases the execution client; PulseChain stays on Shanghai and Capella

PulseChain released Go-Pulse v3.3.0, which rebases the client onto upstream Go-Ethereum v1.13.14 through v1.16.3. The notes say the client carries code for newer upgrades for other networks but PulseChain remains on the Shanghai and Capella upgrades. They list breaking changes for node operators, including a new log-index format and changed RPC limits, and say path-based state storage is now the default for new syncs.
- Implementation:shipped in go-pulse v3.3.0
- Release:released 2025-09-30 as a major client update
- Activation:no activation; takes effect when each node upgrades, with no change to network rules
Date basis: GitLab release timestamp 2025-09-30T21:28:31Z.

Sources: PulseChain (GitLab, go-pulse) — Go-Pulse v3.3.0 release notes (external site) · PulseChain (GitLab, go-pulse) — Go-Pulse releases (external site) · PulseChain (GitLab, go-pulse) — go-pulse params/pulse.go (PulseChain chain configuration) (external site)

Topics your AI can explain

Your AI can explain these topics for PulseChain through the connection, with sources.

What PulseChain is: a proof-of-stake chain forked from Ethereum's state
Proof of stake on the PulseChain beacon chain
Accounts, contracts and the state PulseChain copied at its fork
Gas, fees and units in PLS
Finality: justified and finalized checkpoints
Running a PulseChain node
Wallets, hardware custody and the PulseChain Bridge
Network upgrade level: Shanghai and Capella

Known gaps

What this profile's review did not establish:

The number of active validators, stake distribution and operator concentration were not measured; PulseChain's own beacon explorer is gone, per its page, and third-party validator tools were not read.
The current PLS issuance rate and total supply were not verified; the consensus presets set reward parameters but no issuance figure was found in a PulseChain document.
No throughput figure with a stated method was found in PulseChain's own sources, so no throughput claim is recorded.
The PulseChain Bridge's validator set, signature threshold, contract addresses and upgrade control were not found in a readable PulseChain source.
Node storage needs differ between PulseChain documents (1 TB in the Go-Pulse README, 1.5 to 2 TB in the node guide, 7 TB for archive), and current chain size was not measured.
No light client or light-client data service for PulseChain was reviewed; only the sync committee configuration was checked.
No scaling layer, payment channel or rollup settling to PulseChain was found in its own sources; third-party projects were not surveyed.
Who deployed and controls PulseX's contracts, its audits and its liquidity were not reviewed; algorithmic stablecoins and third-party bridges and swap services were not reviewed.
Ledger device support through third-party wallets was not verified; Ledger's PulseChain coin page address returned not found, and Ledger's published currency list and wallet network configuration have no PulseChain entry.
Whether the sacrifice-credit allocations and refunds were applied as the code describes was not checked against chain data; this profile reports the code and readme only.

Sources

Oldest dated source check: Source checked Sep 29, 2026 Next check due Oct 29, 2026.

All 35 sources were checked in the last 30 days.

PulseChain.com (site text read from its published script bundle) (external site)PulseChain · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
PulseChain Mainnet README (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, pulsechain-mainnet) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
Running a PulseChain Node (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, pulsechain-mainnet) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
pulsechaincom GitLab group: project list (API) (external site)PulseChain (GitLab) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
Go-Pulse: A PulseChain Execution Client Written in Go (README) (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, go-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
go-pulse params/pulse.go (PulseChain chain configuration) (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, go-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
go-pulse pulse/pulse.go (PrimordialPulse fork) (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, go-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
go-pulse pulse/deposit_contract.go (deposit contract replacement) (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, go-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
go-pulse pulse/sacrifice_credits.go (sacrifice credit allocation at the fork) (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, go-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
go-pulse core/state_transition.go (fee payment to the block's fee recipient) (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, go-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
go-pulse params/denomination.go (wei, gwei and whole-coin multipliers) (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, go-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
Go-Pulse v3.3.0 release notes (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, go-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
Go-Pulse releases (v2.2.0 of 13 May 2023, release notes 'PulseChain Mainnet Launch!') (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, go-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
lighthouse-pulse PulseChain network config.yaml (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, lighthouse-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
lighthouse-pulse PulseChain preset: phase0.yaml (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, lighthouse-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
lighthouse-pulse PulseChain preset: altair.yaml (sync committee) (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, lighthouse-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
Lighthouse-Pulse v2.5.1 release notes (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, lighthouse-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
Prysm-Pulse releases (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, prysm-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
Erigon-Pulse releases (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, erigon-pulse) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
PulseChain checkpoint server: head finality checkpoints (read 2026-09-29) (external site)PulseChain · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
Gasper (external site)ethereum.org · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
PulseX.com (external site)PulseX · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
pulsex-server README (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, pulsex-server) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
bridge.PulseChain.com (external site)PulseChain · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
pulsechain-bridge-server README (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, pulsechain-bridge-server) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
scan.pulsechain.com (external site)PulseChain · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
pulsechaincom/blockscout repository README (Blockscout explorer software) (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, blockscout) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
PulseChain Beacon (beacon.pulsechain.com) (external site)PulseChain · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
pulsechain-explorer-server README (external site)PulseChain (GitLab, pulsechain-explorer-server) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
USDC contract addresses (external site)Circle · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
Supported protocols (external site)Tether · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
PulseChain wallet (external site)Trezor · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
Trezor Suite Ethereum-family network configuration (network-ethereum-suite-common, develop branch) (external site)Trezor (trezor GitHub organisation) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
@ledgerhq/cryptoassets 13.56.0 currency list (external site)Ledger (npm package via jsDelivr) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026
Ledger Wallet EVM network configuration (@ledgerhq/live-common 36.0.0, families/evm/config.js) (external site)Ledger (npm package via jsDelivr) · retrieved Sep 29, 2026

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Funding disclosure

Funding disclosures appear here when an upkeep arrangement exists, in the form “Upkeep funded by [name]; verdicts unaffected.” The funder ledger has not been published yet. Neutrality & funding