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 SEC 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.