PulseChain launched on May 13, and it wasn’t without its hiccups. High gas fees soon became a problem because people remained without PLS for gas. Also, as it always happens when crossing the bridge to get to other networks, you need to get from somewhere a native coin of that network to make your first transaction. Fortunately, there’s a faucet dispensing free PLS to pay for gas. Here’s how it works.
What is the PLS Faucet
PLS Faucet is a service providing users with free PLS. It’s sponsored by Tetra and PulsePot who listened to the community and decided to help it out. They quickly set up a faucet funded with 50 million PLS. Also anyone can send PLS to the contract for others in need to use. Anyone can claim 2,500 PLS every 24 hours but there’s a limit on daily claims. The limit is set to 4,000 unique wallet addresses. The faucet is very simple in use because it’s enough to paste in a PulseChain address and wait for PLS to drop in. There’s a queue that needs to be cleared before it comes to your turn though. It’s not immediate and some waiting time is needed. There’s no need to connect your wallet or approve transactions so if you happen on a faucet that asks you to approve a transaction you better watch yourself because it may not be what you were looking for.
You can donate to the faucet too or you can send back some gas after you make some swaps.
Why do we need a faucet?
The faucet is a good thing to have in any project as it lowers the barrier to entry for new people increasing adoption, but it’s also very common that these faucets get abused by people who drain them of free tokens instead of using them when really in need, like, for example, when they have a stuck transaction and they ran out of gas or when they crossed the bridge and don’t have any gas for the first transaction.
When PulseChain launched, gas fees were very cheap, but as soon as the XEN contract was deployed, the gas fees rose exponentially, and people started running out of gas. Soon after the bridge opened, those who didn’t sacrifice two years ago couldn’t make a swap after crossing to PulseChain. Not everyone participated in the sacrifice, and they didn’t get enough PLS. This is where the PulseChain community stepped in. The PulseChain sacrificers started sending free PLS to others or exchanging them for other tokens. Then, PulsePot came up with PLS Faucet, simplifying the process and making it more secure. Overall, the generosity of Pulsicans showed itself to be great, and the power of the community made it stronger to face the adversities.
Warning
There may be other faucets coming up but remain vigilant because not all of them will be good and some may try to steal your funds. If a PLS faucet requires you to connect your wallet, it may be a scam. It’s not always the case but be sure to look at the permissions that you are giving in your MetaMask before you approve anything. A faucet doesn’t really need to connect to your wallet and pasting in your address should be enough. When in doubt, always ask in official channels.