Is HEX a Pyramid Scheme?

HEX has always been a coin shrouded in mystery and controversy. Why are its supporters, the so-called "Hexicans", so cultish in their effusive praise of the founder, Richard Heart, while attacking anyone who dares to criticize Heart or HEX? Are these Twitter accounts solely dedicated to HEX mostly bots? Why is the market cap different depending on where you check? Is this simply another ponzi led by a cult-like figure or do the Hexicans have a point?

What Is HEX?

HEX was launched by Richard Heart on December 2nd, 2019, as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. HEX describes itself as the first blockchain Certificate of Deposit (CDs). CDs are a traditional finance product that provides an interest rate premium in exchange for locking a lump-sum deposit with the bank.  

In the "What is HEX?" video on Hex.com, it claims that HEX is "the first high-interest paying cryptocurrency" and "is actually designed to increase in value". To earn this interest, holders stake their HEX and lock it for a period of time between 1-5555 days. The longer you lock your HEX, the more interest you will be paid with the average yield around 38% APY. Unlike traditional bonds or CDs, staked HEX can't be sold, so a large amount of HEX is currently time-locked with the average stake length being 6.6 years. 

Who Is Invested In HEX?

The Hexicans are possibly the most passionate and unhinged community in all of crypto. Any time anyone criticizes HEX or Richard Heart, an army of Hexicans pop up to attack that person and defend Heart and the project. Oftentimes, they repeat the same pitch, stating how amazing and charitable Richard Heart is while boasting about HEX's immutability, decentralization, and 100% uptime. There are thousands of Twitter and YouTube accounts solely dedicated to HEX and PulseChain like the one shown below. Some suspect that many of these accounts are bots, which the website addresses and denies. However, it is certainly fishy, especially when you see multiple accounts saying the same thing verbatim.

Is HEX A Scam?

There are many red flags with HEX. They aren't listed on any of the major exchanges and don't have a whitepaper. The official Hex.com even has a page solely dedicated to proving that HEX is not legally a scam while providing answers to a series of related questions. This begs the question: would a legitimate project ever have an entire page explaining how it's not a scam? Reading deeper, some of the answers to these questions are completely laughable. 

The bottom line is that Richard Heart has a history of shady business practices and legal troubles, and HEX is probably no different. However, since crypto is mostly unregulated and HEX doesn’t fit the legal requirements of a ponzi scheme, Heart will likely get away scot-free. Nevertheless, it’s been said that scams pump the hardest and buying into HEX at the beginning could've been a life-changing investment. However now that the bubble has popped, if HEX truly is a scam, its native token may never recover and the Hexicans that remain will be stuck holding their inflating, potentially worthless, bags.

For a full breakdown of HEX from BlockStar Advisors, check out their full newsletter on the topic!