Over $1 billion wiped off HEX’s valuation following Richard Heart’s disparaging remarks Over $1 billion wiped off HEX’s valuation following Richard Heart’s disparaging remarks
Richard Heart extensively criticized Ethereum's network high gas fees, urging HEX holders to migrate to PulseChain.
2 min read
Updated: Mar. 11, 2024 at 9:24 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Ethereum-based Hex’s (eHEX) market capitalization plummeted by more than $1 billion after Richard Heart, the controversial figure behind the project, described it as an illegitimate version.
Heart’s controversial statement
In an extensive Mar. 10 post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Heart renounced eHEX, affirming that only the HEX on Pulsechain was genuine.
According to him:
“I’ve told you all this before, but likely some of you don’t listen so well. So I’m telling you again. HEX is the HEX on PulseChain.”
In his argument, Heart stated that the HEX on the Ethereum chain was subjecting users to exorbitant gas fees, thus siphoning off their funds. To buttress his point, he highlighted Etherscan data showing that HEX network participants have spent more than $50 million in gas fees on the Ethereum blockchain.
He said these fees should have been spent buying the HEX on PulseChain. He added:
“HEX is much better than eHEX (the HEX on Ethereum.) Why? Gas fees. Liquidity. Slippage. Common sense. Why would you pay a thousand dollars to end stake instead of pennies?…What if all new buyers chose HEX instead of eHEX? What if all new buyers chose HEX instead of splitting their energy?”
Heart’s critique of Ethereum aims to encourage eHEX holders to transition to PulseChain.
Launched last year as Ethereum’s hard fork, PulseChain has seen limited adoption, with its volume in the previous seven days at $472 million. Ethereum recorded above $20 billion in trading volume during the same timeframe.
HEX price
Following Heart’s statement, the Ethereum-based version of the HEX token fell by more than 60% to $0.00419 as of press time, according to CryptoSlate data. As a result, the project’s market capitalization plunged to $727 million from more than $1.8 billion.
On the other hand, PulseChain-based HEX saw its price increase by more than 5% to $0.0199, according to CoinMarketCap data.
This varying price performance reflects the controversies the project has witnessed during the past years.
Last year, the SECย 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.
HEX Market Data
At the time of press 9:24 pm UTC on Mar. 11, 2024, HEX is ranked #215 by market cap and the price is down 18.76% over the past 24 hours. HEX has a market capitalization of $690.65 million with a 24-hour trading volume of $11.91 million. Learn more about HEX ›
Crypto Market Summary
At the time of press 9:24 pm UTC on Mar. 11, 2024, the total crypto market is valued at at $2.72 trillion with a 24-hour volume of $170.73 billion. Bitcoin dominance is currently at 52.20%. Learn more about the crypto market ›
Mentioned in this article
Author 
Oluwapelumi Adejumo
Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.
Editor Editor 
Liam 'Akiba' Wright
Also known as "Akiba," Liam is a reporter, editor and podcast producer at CryptoSlate. He believes that decentralized technology has the potential to make widespread positive change.
In this article
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.
Ethereum
$3,117.23
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that enables the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps).
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.