Some tokens fall because the whole market is weak. HEX fell for a very different reason this week, and that is what makes this story worth watching.

The token dropped nearly 30% in about 24 hours, sliding to roughly $0.0006. Around $160 million disappeared from its market value, which shrank from above $500 million to near $340 million. That kind of move, on its own, with no matching crash across the wider market, usually points to one headline — and this time the headline was about the man behind the project.

Reports from Turkey say Richard Schueler, known to most crypto followers as Richard Heart, was detained in Istanbul along with his wife. Local reporting described police seizing electronic devices, hardware wallets, jewellery and firearms during the operation. I want to be careful here: at the time of writing, this is still media reporting, not a confirmed statement from Turkish or Finnish officials.

The background matters, though. Schueler has been wanted in Finland over alleged tax fraud and an assault case, and an Interpol Red Notice was issued almost two years ago. He also fought a large case in the United States, where the SEC accused him of raising about $1 billion through an unregistered offering — a case a judge dismissed in early 2025, after which the SEC said it would not refile it.

What struck me most was the spillover. PulseChain and PulseX, the tokens tied to the same founder, also fell hard. Nothing about their technology changed overnight. Their prices moved purely because one person's legal trouble became the story. That is founder risk in its purest form, and smaller ecosystems feel it the worst because their trading is thin and panic spreads fast.

My honest take is simple: until an official confirmation arrives and the legal picture clears up, HEX is a headline-driven trade, not a calm hold. Sharp bounces are just as likely as further drops. Anyone watching it should size that risk first and chase the price second.

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