While HEX remains shrouded in controversy, the price rises

Richard Heart is a controversial figure. A quick Google search of his name will bring up a slew of posts calling him a scammer and a criminal. The entrepreneur, whose real name is Richard J. Scheuler, has been a vocal opponent of crypto market leader Bitcoin, and his own crypto project HEX has come under scrutiny.

However, despite the controversy surrounding Heart, one thing is for certain: the price of HEX is going up. The cryptocurrency’s value has increased in recent months as it continues to draw new investors and interest. According to Heart, "HEX hasn't gone six months without making a new all time high price."

Let’s take a look at this controversial crypto.

What is HEX?

When HEX launched in 2019, it was billed as the world’s first high interest certificate of deposit on the blockchain. HEX is the platform’s native token. The token is an ERC-20 asset on the Ethereum network.

HEX’s main draw is that HEX buyers are rewarded for staking their tokens, which promises to earn them high-interest returns. Users stake an amount of HEX of their choosing for a period between 1 to 5,555 days. During that period, they earn daily interest. HEX claims to provide an average annual percentage yield (APY) of more than 40 percent.

Like other cryptocurrencies HEX was designed to eliminate the need for middlemen in financial transactions and give control to currency holders. Moving forward, HEX is focused on achieving mass adoption.

“Technology is fun to talk about, but without mass adoption and people buying up something with economic value; there is no purpose,” Heart said in a press release a few months after HEX was launched. “On the other hand, Bitcoin is not private enough, it’s not used to pay taxes, and it can’t be used by peers as internet cash. HEX is an answer for both Bitcoin and Ethereum holders as it offers continuous gains for anyone who owns Bitcoin and for anyone who wishes to convert their ETH into HEX.”

What is HEX worth?

As of this writing the price of Hex has topped $.08. The token reached an all time high of more than $.09 in June and has a market cap of more than $48 billion. HEX is up 443% for the year to date and while other coins saw their values decline in June, Hex went up.

Hex controversy

Hex is available on more than 20 cryptocurrency exchanges, though it isn’t available on some of the top platforms like Coinbase. This has made some crypto enthusiasts wary of the coin.

In addition to these concerns, various leaders in the crypto field have called HEX a ponzi scheme, a pyramid scheme, and even a straight up scam. Others warn of a HEX bubble.

Despite the claims surrounding it, HEX has been audited by reputable companies in the crypto industry. These include CoinFabrik, a blockchain development company who audited the platform prior to its release. CoinFabrik was asked to audit the contracts for the HEX project and verify that longer stakes pay better than shorter re-compounding stakes.

“We were able to verify that longer stakes pay better than short re-compunding stakes,” CoinFabrik wrote in their audit. “We show how this happens for certain (most) protocol parameters. Further, when different users are staking the same HEX at the same time, then we show that longer stakes always return more HEX than composing shorter stakes. We expose one edge case of little practical importance: if only one person ever stakes during a time window, then that person might be able to get bigger profits with short-recompounding stakes than with a longer stake. It is certain that this will never be the case.”

-- Despite the controversy around HEX and its founder, the platform isn’t going anywhere. Now HEX creator Heart has his sights set on a new crypto project that promises to be the largest airdrop in crypto history. (You can read our article on PulseChain here.)

Ultimately, it’s up to each individual to decide whether HEX is worth investing in. It’s important to conduct your own due diligence before making a decision.