The year 2025 proved to be a complex chapter for Richard Heart’s crypto projects—PulseChain, PulseX, HEX, Incentive Token (INC), and the newly announced ProveX. While the ecosystem achieved a landmark legal victory and implemented significant tokenomics changes, holders faced the sobering reality of continued price underperformance in a year when the anticipated altseason never materialized.
SEC Lawsuit Dismissed: A Complete Legal Victory
The most consequential event of 2025 came in the courts. On February 28, U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon dismissed the SEC’s entire case against Richard Heart and his projects on jurisdictional grounds. The SEC had alleged over $1 billion in unregistered securities offerings and misappropriation of funds, naming HEX, PulseChain, and PulseX as co-defendants.
The court ruled that the SEC failed to demonstrate sufficient U.S. nexus, noting that communications were global rather than targeted at U.S. investors. On April 21, the SEC formally notified the court it would not amend or refile the case, making the dismissal final. Legal commentators described it as a “complete victory” and one of the only fully dismissed SEC crypto enforcement cases of its kind.
This ruling removed a significant regulatory cloud that had hung over the ecosystem since 2023, when many institutions and platforms avoided these tokens entirely due to the pending litigation. Following the verdict, HEX, PLS, and PLSX rallied sharply, with some tokens posting gains of 36-78% in the days after the dismissal.
Aggressive Tokenomics Adjustments to Combat Inflation
Throughout 2025, the ecosystem implemented dramatic changes to reduce inflationary pressure and protect token value.
INC Emission Cuts: On February 7, the PulseX farm reward token INC saw its emission rate slashed from 1 INC per second to 0.1 INC per second—a tenfold reduction. By late February and March, emissions were further reduced to approximately 0.03 INC per second, representing more than a 30-fold decrease from launch levels. This transformed INC from a high-inflation farm reward into a scarce, reflexive asset, with the token reaching local high near $1.65 in late July.
HEX Origin Address Stakes: In early February 2025, the HEX Origin Address (OA) made an unprecedented move by staking approximately 250-350 billion HEX tokens for various periods on both Ethereum and PulseChain. This strategic action significantly reduced the yield available to short-term stakers who were accumulating rewards only to sell immediately.
By locking massive amounts of HEX, the OA effectively captured a large portion of the 3.69% annual inflation, reducing what many community analysts called the “user inflation” from approximately 11% down to more manageable levels. This defensive maneuver aimed to protect price by making it more expensive to farm and dump HEX rewards, forcing participants to acquire and stake more tokens for longer periods to earn comparable yields.
PulseX Consolidates as the Ecosystem’s DeFi Hub
PulseX emerged as the clear winner within the ecosystem, solidifying its position as the chain’s primary liquidity venue. By October 2025, PulseX V1 and V2 combined held approximately $196 million in total value locked (TVL), making it by far the largest protocol on PulseChain.
The DEX’s buy-and-burn mechanics continued to remove tokens from circulation, with roughly 1.4 trillion PLSX (approximately 7-8% of total supply) burned by mid-2025.
ProveX Sacrifice and the Tornado Cash Controversy
The ecosystem’s newest addition, ProveX, was unveiled in late October 2025 as an ambitious zero-knowledge proof settlement protocol aimed at replacing centralized exchanges. The project promises instant, private, non-custodial payment settlement between fiat and crypto without KYC intermediaries.
However, the ProveX “sacrifice” launch became deeply controversial. While officially raising over $410 million, blockchain analytics revealed that approximately $366-400 million originated from a massive November 2025 Tornado Cash deposit of 112,978 ETH from wallets strongly associated with Richard Heart. This ETH was subsequently withdrawn and sent to the ProveX sacrifice address, leading critics to argue that the “raise” was largely founder-sourced capital recycled through a mixer, with only $12-16 million coming from genuine third-party participants.
The Tablet Marketing Campaign: A $10 Million Gamble
In one of the most unusual marketing initiatives in crypto history, Richard Heart announced in August 2025 that 700,000 electronic LCD writing tablets—valued at approximately $10 million retail—had been purchased and would be distributed globally to promote PulseChain. By December, 100,000 tablets had been sent out, with the remaining 600,000 earmarked for charities and home delivery.
These durable, battery-free devices featured PulseChain messaging and were intended to introduce the ecosystem to entirely new audiences, reportedly targeting recipients from the Ledger data breach leak. Community reaction was mixed: supporters praised the creative approach and scale, while skeptics questioned whether physical device giveaways could effectively convert recipients into active users, especially given the complexity of onboarding to PulseChain and the unfavorable price charts that new users would encounter.
2025: The Altseason That Never Came
Despite the legal victory, aggressive tokenomics adjustments, and creative marketing efforts, 2025 proved deeply disappointing for ecosystem holders. The broader cryptocurrency altseason that many anticipated simply did not materialize.
PulseChain’s PLS token hit new all-time lows around $0.00001756 in March 2025—approximately 89% below its all-time high—before bouncing modestly. HEX on both Ethereum and PulseChain remained far below 2021 peaks, trading at fractions of a cent throughout the year with most price prediction models projecting continued stagnation. The ecosystem’s charts looked dramatically worse than major layer-1 competitors that had launched with similar or lower market caps.
For holders who had sacrificed significant capital in 2021-2022 expecting exponential returns, 2025 was a year of reckoning. The hoped-for explosive growth never came, and many participants remained deeply underwater on their initial investments. The legal win, while important for long-term viability, did not translate into the price recovery many had anticipated.
Why Optimism Still Makes Sense for 2026
Despite the challenges, several factors suggest reasons for cautious optimism heading into 2026.
Regulatory clarity is rare. The complete SEC dismissal gives this ecosystem something almost no other altcoin or DeFi project can claim: a decisive legal victory against the U.S. regulator. As crypto regulation tightens globally, projects with proven legal standing may attract capital that previously stayed on the sidelines.
Tokenomics are now defensible. The dramatic reduction in INC emissions and the OA’s strategic HEX stakes have fundamentally reshaped inflation dynamics. These aren’t temporary fixes—they represent permanent supply adjustments that could support price appreciation if demand returns.
Infrastructure has matured. PulseX’s $196 million TVL, the Liberty Swap bridge connecting Solana and other chains, and a growing suite of DeFi protocols demonstrate that PulseChain is building real utility beyond speculation. The technical foundation is significantly stronger than it was at launch.
Bear markets create opportunities. The 2025 capitulation in PLS, PLSX, and HEX has reset holder psychology and distribution. Many weak hands have exited, and entry prices are orders of magnitude lower than sacrifice levels. For new entrants or accumulating believers, risk-reward ratios may never be more attractive.
The macro cycle hasn’t turned yet. If 2026 brings the delayed altseason many analysts expect, PulseChain’s combination of legal clarity, improved tokenomics, and established infrastructure could position it to capture disproportionate upside. The ecosystem has survived its darkest period—the question is whether it can convert survival into growth.
The Richard Heart ecosystem enters 2026 wounded but standing. For holders, the choice is stark: cut losses after a brutal year, or bet that the legal victory, tokenomics overhaul, and infrastructure buildout will finally translate into the price performance that 2025 failed to deliver.
A Final Transmission from Second Crypto Revolution
This marks the last article on secondcryptorevolution.com, and with it, the final chapter of the Second Crypto Revolution project—at least as you’ve known it. Mark Wild, in his current incarnation, steps away from the keyboard, not in defeat but in recognition that all things evolve or dissolve to make space for what comes next.
The journey that began with documenting Richard Heart’s ambitious ecosystem experiment has reached a natural inflection point. Whether the insights, analysis, and community connections forged here will resurface in a new form—perhaps under a different banner, exploring different territories in the crypto landscape or beyond—remains deliberately uncertain. Something may be gestating in the background, waiting for the right moment to emerge. Or perhaps not.
What’s certain is that the energy that fueled this project hasn’t disappeared; it’s simply transitioning into whatever shapes the future demands. For those who’ve followed along, consider this not an ending but a metamorphosis—one where the chrysalis must dissolve before revealing what, if anything, emerges. The Second Crypto Revolution closes its book, but revolutions, by their nature, tend to spawn unexpected sequels.
Thank you for being part of this chapter. Whatever comes next will find its own voice, its own moment, its own audience. Until then—or perhaps until never—this is Mark Wild, signing off.