Richard Heart recently made a series of claims that his cryptocurrency HEX has major technological advantages over Bitcoin. However, experts argue that these assertions do not stand up to scrutiny.
- Heart claimed HEX has never had an inflation bug, unlike Bitcoin’s 2 historical bugs. But HEX is far newer and smaller than Bitcoin, so this comparison is misleading.
- He argued HEX’s supply code is more secure because it is audited inside the EVM. However, audits don’t guarantee perfect code. The EVM itself still has vulnerabilities that could be exploited.
- According to Heart, HEX doesn’t waste energy like Bitcoin mining. This is true, but Bitcoin’s energy usage secures its decentralized network via proof-of-work mining.
- Heart touted HEX’s “proof-of-wait” system as an innovation but it appears nearly identical to simple staking.
- He claimed transacting in HEX is 136 times cheaper than Bitcoin, but fees vary across platforms and this figure only applies to one specific network.
- Heart called HEX more decentralized than Bitcoin. But Bitcoin mining is distributed globally while HEX ownership appears concentrated in a few hands.
- Finally, Heart pointed out that Bitcoin has historically had inflation bugs that were fixed via chain rollbacks. While true, this does not mean HEX is immune to bugs as it continues evolving.
While HEX implements some minor technical innovations, Bitcoin remains in a league of its own as the most secure, decentralized, and time-tested cryptocurrency. Bitcoin launched the entire crypto revolution and has survived over a decade, proving its resilience. The vast majority of other cryptocurrencies are attempting to piggyback off Bitcoin’s legitimate use case and network effects.
Meanwhile, HEX appears to be designed primarily to enrich its founder Richard Heart, not to provide any meaningful innovations. Heart has a notorious reputation for hype and self-promotion. He is currently facing a lawsuit from the SEC alleging he misused over $12 million of investor funds to buy luxury items and real estate.
Regulators have argued that Heart’s various crypto projects show signs of being unregistered securities designed to benefit insiders. Heart has built a cult-like following online among those who defend him and dismiss the allegations. But his extreme narcissism and bombastic style should give any objective observer pause.
In summary, while HEX may have made minor optimizations, Bitcoin remains the gold standard. And investors should be wary of claims coming from someone with Heart’s history of alleged misrepresentations and legal issues. Caveat emptor.
Felix you are misleading people.
The only thing Bitcoin has going for it is name recognition. The technology is slow, outdated, and expensive. There are less businesses taking Bitcoin now than 4 years ago. A business that operates on a thin profit margin can’t wait 45 minutes for a transaction to process, then have the price dump 5% while the transaction was processing. Part of the incentive for Bitcoin was decentralization, and being your own bank. It was nice to get away from banks charging fees, but now it isn’t worth paying $15.00 per transaction to avoid paying a $10 a month fee for the privilege of having a checking account. Plus, we have to pay additional fees to convert everything to Fiat. Bitcoin might still be a good way to store assets, but it is severely flawed for goods and services.. Lightning network has not caught on, and is barely 5% of the volume of Bitcoin transactions.
Bitcoin only has value because we all collectively agree it has value. It really has no use case. Hex also has value because we all believe it is valuable. However, hex is a smart contract that nobody can alter. Instead of paying miners for wasting electricity, hex holders can get more hex for staking for any amount of time you choose. Hex is better.