Claiming AVAX PNG Token Airdrop — First Experience with Pangolin DEX (Uniswap for Avalanche)
Introduction
This is a quick writeup of my experience trying Pangolin, to claim PNG tokens which are being awarded to Uniswap and SushiSwap token holders (snapshot taken on December 7, 2020). These are only being offered for one month from the time of launch, approximately February 10 until March 10.
What is Pangolin?
A community-driven decentralized exchange for Avalanche and Ethereum assets with fast settlement, low transaction fees, and a democratic distribution–powered by Avalanche. Pangolin brings you the best trading opportunities to find and maximize your yield. (https://pangolin.exchange/)
Or put another way,
Pangolin is a decentralized exchange (DEX) which runs on Avalanche, uses the same automated market-making (AMM) model as Uniswap, features a native governance token called PNG that is fully community distributed and is capable of trading all tokens issued on Ethereum and Avalanche. In a crowded marketplace with multiple contenders, Pangolin offers three critically important benefits: fast and cheap trades, community-driven development, and a fair and open token distribution. (https://pangolin.exchange/litepaper)
Pangolin went live in mid-February, and in doing so actually exposed a bug in the Avalanche network, which at the time of writing has caused a 25% drop in the price of AVAX.
Unlike Uniswap, Pangolin features a 100% community-focused token distribution model. No PNG tokens are allocated to the team, investors, advisors, or any insiders. (PNG is the Pangolin protocol governance token, similar to UNI and SUSHI.)
ERC-20 tokens from Ethereum can easily be traded on Pangolin after transferring them using the Avalanche-Ethereum Bridge.
Claiming Airdropped PNG Tokens
Pangolin has provided a guide for UNI and SUSHI owners to claim PNG tokens. Before tokens can be claimed, one must transfer 1 UNI or SUSHI token from one’s Ethereum wallet to the Avalanche blockchain using the Avalanche-Ethereum Bridge. Here is where things get a little complicated.
First, one has to configure the MetaMask browser plugin to also use the Avalanche network. The bridge has a good guide describing how to do this. You also should probably read the Pangolin FAQ.
Once the tokens are transferred, in order to use MetaMask on Avalanche, you will need AVAX tokens to cover gas fees to execute transactions. This is not used until a later stage, so you can come back and do it later if you desire.
In our case, we should follow this guide to get MetaMask working with Avalanche. When you get to the part where it says, “Congratulations! You now have AVAX on your MetaMask wallet and can start using Avalanche,” you can skip back to the Pangolin PNG claiming tutorial.
After Step 9, when you click “Start Transaction,” you will be prompted to confirm a set of two Ethereum transactions. The first transaction approves UNI (or SUSHI) for trade on the Avalanche Bridge. The second transaction moves the token from Ethereum to Avalanche. Unfortunately, the Ethereum network is highly congested and gas is expensive. In my case, the two transactions cost about $48 total (at 95 gwei). Certainly not cheap, and this is an unfortunate necessary requirement to use the bridge.
One can then go back to the Pangolin app, go to the Airdrop tab, make sure one’s wallet is connected, and click “Claim.” It is at this point where one needs to have AVAX in one’s Avalanche MetaMask wallet to execute the claim transaction on the Avalanche network.
For me, after I clicked through to confirm the transaction in MetaMask, the transaction never went through. Attempting to view the avalanche on the Avalanche C-Chain explorer could not find it, even after waiting hours. I discovered this is a known issue with MetaMask, when you change networks. Please consult this article for a solution (resetting MetaMask).
Congratulations, you’ve claimed your free PNG, set up an Avalanche MetaMask wallet, transferred your first token from Ethereum, and experienced a taste of the Pangolin DEX!
Conclusion
Pangolin has a lot of potential. Will it develop enough ERC-20 token liquidity to compete with Uniswap remains to be seen, especially with the high cost of using the token bridge. As compelling new DeFi applications begin to be deployed on Avalanche, if these applications provide a compelling use case for ERC-20 tokens, this liquidity problem should improve. In the meantime, Pangolin should become a great solution for swapping AVAX tokens, faster and cheaper than the current (V2) iteration of Uniswap for sure.
Now may be a good time to start farming PNG tokens to the liquidity pools on Pangolin! (See below.)
Where from here?
One can earn additional PNG tokens for providing liquidity to various pools on Pangolin. Full list of participating pools. After providing liquidity, one can deposit Pangolin Liquidity Provider PGL tokens to receive PNG. At the time of writing, the highest rewarded pools were AVAX-LINK and AVAX-ETH.
Using your Liquidity Provider (PGL) Tokens to Earn the Pangolin (PNG) Governance Token
Avalanche: The New DeFi Blockchain Explained
