HEX Founder Richard Heart Detained in Istanbul as Token Erases $160M
October 16, 2026
Crypto Influencer Held on a Finnish Interpol Notice
Turkish media reports carried by CoinDesk say Richard Heart, the outspoken founder of the HEX, PulseChain, and PulseX tokens, was detained in Istanbul on Wednesday, October 14. Heart, whose legal name is Richard James Schueler, was reportedly held alongside his wife at a property in the city’s Beşiktaş district. Istanbul police ran the operation with support from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, per the Ihlas News Agency. Heart has been one of crypto’s most polarising figures for years, and the detention has already moved crypto prices across his ecosystem.What Turkish Media Say Police Found
Turkish outlets describe a sizeable haul from the search. CoinDesk relayed claims of around $4 million in cash, 64 luxury watches, firearms and electronic equipment, and Cointelegraph noted reports of hardware wallets and jewellery. Turkish police and prosecutors have not confirmed any of these figures. They are media accounts of a search, not findings of a court, and they do not establish that any item was connected to an offence. Heart has not publicly responded to the detention, and no statement from his legal team had appeared by Friday.The Finnish Case: Tax Fraud Spanning Four Years
The Interpol notice traces back to Finland, where Heart is officially a resident of Helsinki. In September 2024, Finnish public broadcaster Yle reported that Helsinki police suspected him of gross tax evasion covering June 2, 2020 to April 2, 2024, with unpaid taxes alleged to run to several hundred million euros. Authorities put his 2023 income at more than 15.2 million euros. He was remanded in absentia on September 13, 2024, allowing Finland to seek international help in locating him. Police also listed a suspected assault on a 16-year-old between February 16 and 17, 2021. Interpol issued its Red Notice in December 2024. All of these remain allegations. Heart has not been convicted of anything in Finland, Turkey, or the United States.
What an Interpol Red Notice Actually Is
A Red Notice sounds like a global arrest warrant, but it isn’t. It is a request from Interpol, on behalf of a member country, asking police worldwide to locate and provisionally detain a person pending extradition or similar legal action. Each country then decides whether to act on the notice and hand the person over. Turkey detaining Heart is the first step in that chain, not the last. Finland would normally need to file a formal extradition request, and Turkish courts would then review it. The key point for anyone following the story: a Red Notice means a country wants someone found. It does not mean that person has been found guilty.HEX Drops 30% as $160M Leaves the Market
Markets reacted fast. HEX fell nearly 30% in 24 hours to around $0.0006, according to Cointelegraph, citing CoinMarketCap data. Its market capitalisation slid from more than $500 million on Wednesday to about $340 million by Thursday morning, a loss of roughly $160 million. The wider Pulse ecosystem took a heavier hit. CoinGecko data on Friday showed PulseChain’s PLS token down 26% over seven days and PulseX’s PLSX down nearly 28% over the same period. HEX itself bounced about 12% on Friday but remained 17% lower over the week. For context, HEX traded above $0.44 in September 2021. At $0.0006, the token sits more than 99% below that peak, reminding investors how far the project had already fallen before this week.The SEC Case That Ended Without a Verdict
This is not Heart’s first brush with authorities. In July 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued him, alleging that HEX, PulseChain, and PulseX raised more than $1 billion through unregistered securities offerings and spent at least $12 million of investor funds on luxury goods. In February 2025, Judge Carol Bagley Amon of the Eastern District of New York dismissed the case, ruling the SEC had not shown the activity was sufficiently directed at US investors. The SEC said in April 2025 it would not refile. That outcome left the underlying allegations untested, and the Finnish case, which concerns tax rather than securities, was unaffected by it. Investors who want a comparison point can look at how US courts have treated other crypto founders, including the Texas promoter sentenced to 23 years for a $20 million token fraud earlier this year.What Happens Next in Istanbul
The immediate question is whether Finland files a formal extradition request and how quickly Turkish courts respond. As of Friday, no court date, extradition timetable, or new charge had been made public. If extradition proceeds, Heart could face trial in Finland on the tax and assault suspicions. If Turkey declines, or if the process stalls, he may be released while the matter drags on. Either path could take months. For token holders, the uncertainty may matter more than the outcome. Projects tied closely to one personality tend to trade on that person’s news flow, and anyone looking to buy crypto online in this ecosystem is effectively taking a view on a legal process they cannot influence.A Founder-Dependent Token Shows Its Weakness
The $160 million wiped from HEX in a day says less about Finnish tax law than about how the token was built. HEX, PulseChain and PulseX were marketed through one voice, promoted on one man’s social channels, and defended by a community organised around him. That model works when a charismatic founder can rally buyers. It fails the moment the founder becomes the story. Bitcoin has no founder to detain, and Ethereum has long outgrown its creator’s daily presence. HEX never made that transition. Whatever a Turkish court decides, this week has demonstrated the cost of a single point of failure in a crypto project. For an asset already down more than 99% from its peak, the detention did not create the weakness. It exposed it.
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Madiha Riaz
Madiha is a seasoned researcher in cryptocurrency, blockchain, and emerging Web3 technologies. With a background in organic chemistry and a sharp analytical mindset, she brings scientific depth to decentralized innovation. Since discovering crypto in 2017 and investing in 2018, she’s been uncovering and sharing deep insights into how blockchain is redefining the digital asset landscape.
