SEC Drops Securities Fraud Complaint Against Hex Founder Richard Heart

According to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided not to refile its securities fraud complaint against Richard Schueler, known as Richard Heart, the founder of Hex. This decision was communicated by the SEC's attorney, Matthew Gulde, in a letter dated April 21 to New York District Court Judge Carol Bagley Amon. The court had previously dismissed the SEC's initial complaint on February 28, citing a lack of jurisdiction over Heart's activities, which were not specifically aimed at U.S. investors. Judge Amon had allowed the SEC to submit an amended complaint by March 20, later extending the deadline to April 21. Richard Heart announced on April 22 that he, along with PulseChain, PulseX, and HEX, had successfully overcome the SEC's charges, achieving a level of regulatory clarity that few other cryptocurrencies have attained. Heart claimed that the SEC had voluntarily withdrawn from other cryptocurrency cases but emphasized that his was the only instance where "the SEC lost and crypto won across the board," with all claims dismissed in court. He described this outcome as a triumph for open-source software, cryptocurrency, and free speech, noting that the SEC had targeted software code itself in this case. The SEC had initially filed a lawsuit against Heart in July 2023, alleging unregistered securities offerings of three tokens: HEX, PulseChain (PLS), and PulseX (PSLX). The regulator claimed Heart had profited over $1 billion by promoting these tokens as a lucrative investment opportunity. In April 2024, Heart sought to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that the SEC had no jurisdiction over him as he did not reside in the United States. The SEC countered this claim in August, asserting that Heart had promoted the tokens at an event in Las Vegas. By December 2024, Interpol had issued a Red Notice for Heart, seeking his arrest in Finland, where he was also under suspicion for tax evasion. The native token of PulseChain, HEX, reached an all-time high of $0.031 in December 2024 but has since declined by 76%, mirroring the struggles of many altcoins to keep pace with Bitcoin's performance this year. Under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, the SEC has dropped or suspended several cases against cryptocurrency firms in 2025.