TL;DR
- HEX fell nearly 30% after reports of Richard Schueler’s detention in Istanbul, erasing roughly $160 million from the token’s reported market capitalization as sellers reacted.
- CoinMarketCap later showed HEX near $0.000579, down about 34.6% over 24 hours, extending losses beyond the initial market snapshot during trading.
- Schueler’s earlier SEC case was dismissed in 2025, while the reported Turkish detention involves separate allegations and does not establish guilt in that matter.
HEX fell sharply after local media reports said founder Richard Schueler, better known as Richard Heart, had been detained by authorities in Istanbul. The token dropped nearly 30% over 24 hours and reached $0.0006 in the initial market snapshot, cutting roughly $160 million from its capitalization. A later CoinMarketCap reading placed HEX near $0.000579, down about 34.6% over 24 hours. Built as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum, HEX faced an abrupt repricing as reports surrounding its founder spread.
HEX Market Value Shrinks as Legal Reports Pressure the Token
Reports from Turkey said Schueler and his wife were detained in Istanbul and that authorities seized electronic devices, hardware wallets, jewelry and handguns. The reported detention came nearly two years after Interpol issued a Red Notice seeking Schueler’s location and provisional arrest over allegations involving tax fraud and assault. The legal development remains a reported detention, while the underlying allegations do not constitute a determination of guilt. Finland’s National Bureau of Investigations declined to comment on the matter.
The selloff produced a substantial contraction in HEX’s reported market value. The earlier snapshot showed capitalization falling from more than $500 million on Wednesday to about $340 million as the token approached $0.0006. CoinMarketCap later displayed a market capitalization around $331 million alongside the lower price reading. The changing figures reflect separate market snapshots rather than conflicting measurements, with HEX continuing to move quickly as traders reacted to the developing situation around Schueler.
Schueler had already faced separate legal scrutiny in the United States. The SEC filed a case against Richard Heart in July 2023, alleging an unregistered $1 billion crypto asset securities offering and misappropriation of at least $12 million. A federal judge dismissed that case in February 2025, finding the alleged activities were not sufficiently directed at US investors. The SEC later said it did not intend to refile its complaint against Schueler.
That earlier US outcome is distinct from the allegations connected to the reported detention in Turkey. The broader history surrounding Heart has remained relevant to HEX, PulseChain and PulseX, including the SEC’s decision not to pursue another complaint and Heart’s more recent public arguments about Bitcoin and Ethereum. For HEX traders, the immediate market story is the scale and speed of the token’s decline following the Istanbul reports, not a final resolution of the legal questions surrounding its founder.
