Richard Heart followers lose faith as PulseChain, PulseX face delays
Crypto personality Richard Heart has delayed the launch of PulseChain (PLS) and PulseX (PLSX) for months. Hundreds of millions of dollars in user funds are inaccessible within sacrificed wallets for the two projects. Ongoing delays have caused finger-pointing among Heart’s “Hexican” following from his original ICO, HEX.
PulseChain V3, a testnet, could launch this month. The mainnet launch date remains a mystery.
At a HEX Conference in January, Heart told an interviewer that development was “going really great.” He declined to announce a mainnet release date for PulseChain nor its on-chain exchange, PulseX.
The delays are substantial. For instance, PulseChain first came to light with a July 2021 press release from Everything Blockchain. The statement revealed that Everything Blockchain had a $31 million sacrifice position in PulseChain. At the time, the launch of PulseChain was slated to launch at midnight on August 2, 2021. It still hasn’t launched.
At press time, PulseChain’s website says the second version of its testnet is live. Despite the long delay, Heart conveyed confidence that his system was working well, at least in testnet.
In January, Heart noted that developers were also testing four PulseChain software clients: go-pulse, prysm-pulse, erigon-pulse, and lighthouse-pulse.
Members of the PulseChain Reddit subforum expressed concern about Heart’s evasiveness ever since he expressed confidence in activating mainnet last month. One user asked what consequences Heart would experience if, for example, he were to never release PulseChain.
Many opined that Heart’s ego is too big for failure at releasing PulseChain. Critics from other Reddit subforums accused Heart of using misleading, logarithmic charts to display a more flattering price chart of HEX. They noted Heart’s increasing need to boost morale among Hexicans, whose patience is thinning amid lengthy delays. In truth, HEX is still 88% below its all-time high.
Another critic called PulseChain and PulseX a “slow-motion rug,” citing the projects’ repeated delays.
A Twitter user speculated about a potential feud between Heart and Binance.
- After Binance acquired CoinMarketCap, the website corrected its entry for HEX.
- However, HEX tokenholder Brian Cox filed a lawsuit claiming that CoinMarketCap was suppressing HEX in its rankings.
- The US District Court for the District of Arizona has since dismissed the lawsuit.
PulseChain and PulseX: Designed to fail the Howey Test
The PulseChain website’s disclaimer says that sacrificing tokens to participate in PulseChain is a political statement, not an “expectation of profit from the work of others.”
Sound familiar? That language hearkens to the Howey Test. PulseChain wants users to know that it’s not selling securities. Legal experts have indicated that HEX has some earmarks of a security, such as a yield-bearing staking program.
HEX’s staking platform offers a suspiciously high return on investment. According to the HEX Alerts Twitter account, some users can earn 50% HEX-denominated APY.
On the other hand, HEX’s staking scheme includes penalties for early or late withdrawal. For example, one Twitter user claimed to have lost one-fifth of their investment for unstaking their HEX late.
SEC investigation
In November, the SEC sent subpoenas to several HEX influencers. These subpoenas led to a flurry of insiders offering advice on shredding or hiding digital evidence.
A more recent video title implied PulseChain/PulseX could launch in as little as three weeks. Heart mentioned that it could be “weeks” but acknowledged he could be wrong in his time estimates. He seemed to blame the delays on the need to add coding elements to support other blockchains like Aragon.
As previously described, Heart became known for ostentatious displays of wealth — including owning the world’s largest known diamond — and potentially controlling large amounts of the HEX supply. More importantly, he has described a possible scheme whereby he gained considerable Ethereum (ETH), which is the primary liquidity pair backing the price of HEX.
Heart also hides behind aliases. His history includes involvement in a Panama-based ring and lawsuits involving spam and non-FTC compliant marketing.
Read more: Who is Avraham Eisenberg and why is he all over Crypto Twitter?
Despite his misconduct and aliases, Heart has his supporters — including early HEX buyers who are still hoping to profit on their positions. Hexicans who sacrificed into Heart’s PulseChain and PulseX might still be willing to be patient. However, Heart’s remarkably lengthy delays in launching projects aren’t promising signs.
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