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.

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.