Hex loses $500M in market cap after SEC lawsuit; token removed from MetaMask, Uniswap Hex loses $500M in market cap after SEC lawsuit; token removed from MetaMask, Uniswap
Crypto platforms, Uniswap and MetaMask, have dropped support for the embattled HEX token.
2 min read
Updated: Aug. 4, 2023 at 7:01 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Hex (HEX) market cap has dropped by nearly $500 million since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission labeled it security in its lawsuit against its founder, Richard Heart.
On July 31. the SEC charged Heart with conducting an unregistered securities offering with the issuance of HEX in 2018. The lawsuit named all of Heart’s crypto ventures, including HEX, PulseChain, and PulseX, describing them as fraud.
The regulator further alleged that Heart committed securities fraud by using investors’ funds to buy luxury items.
Following the lawsuit, Hex’s market cap declined to as low as $706 million on Aug. 2 from the $1.47 billion recorded when the lawsuit was announced. However, the market cap has slightly recovered to over $1 billion after the HEX token rallied by more than 20% in the last two days.
Pulsechain TVL dips, trading volume soars
The lawsuit also affected the total value of assets locked on its sister layer-1 network Pulsechain. The TVL fell by more than 50% from $327 million on July 31 to $136 million on Aug. 2, according to DeFillama data. Like the market cap, the TVL has recovered to $206.43 million as of press time.
Additionally, the trading volume of decentralized exchanges (DEX) on the Pulsechain network soared more than 300% to nearly $300 million since the lawsuit.
On Aug. 1, the day after the SEC lawsuit, trading activities on PulseX, the largest DEX on the network, reached an all-time high volume of $138.49 million. Since then, the DEX protocol has averaged more than $50 million in trades.
MetaMask and Uniswap Remove HEX
MetaMask and Uniswap (UNI), two of the biggest crypto platforms, have reportedly removed support for HEX transactions on their platforms.
Some market analysts suggested that the recent SEC action appears to have influenced their decision, possibly driven by a desire to safeguard themselves from potential regulatory repercussions.
However, the development generated strong criticisms from the HEX community and decentralization enthusiasts who questioned how “decentralized” these platforms were.
MetaMask and Uniswap were yet to respond to CryptoSlate’s request for comment as of press time.
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Oluwapelumi Adejumo
Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.
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HEX is a cryptocurrency launched in late 2019 by the founder going by the name “Richard Heart” and “RadicalHeart.” It is an ERC20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain, with a maximum supply of 633,642,618,630 HEX tokens.
Uniswap
$13.5865
Since its inception, the Uniswap Protocol (“Uniswap”) has served as a trustless and highly decentralized financial infrastructure.
MetaMask is an extension for accessing Ethereum enabled distributed applications or “dApps” in your normal browser.
Richard Heart is a Bitcoin, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and internet marketing expert who has founded and managed several successful Internet startups, the largest having 150 employees with a turnover of $60M and operating in mortgage and consumer finance markets.