Richard Heart, a prominent figure in the cryptocurrency industry, has achieved a complete legal victory against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On February 28, 2025, U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon dismissed all claims brought by the SEC against Heart and his blockchain projects, HEX, PulseChain, and PulseX.
The SEC later confirmed it would not amend or refile its complaint, officially closing the case. The SEC originally filed its lawsuit in July 2023. The agency accused Heart of raising more than $1 billion through unregistered securities offerings and spending millions of dollars on personal luxuries. In a rare legal move, the SEC also named Heart’s open-source crypto projects—HEX, PulseChain, and PulseX—as codefendants, arguing that they were essentially extensions of Heart himself. Judge Amon’s ruling was clear and comprehensive. The court found that the SEC did not have jurisdiction over the case. The judge noted that the tokens in question were not sold on U.S. exchanges and were not specifically marketed to U.S. investors.
The court also found no substantial connection to domestic securities transactions, which is a key requirement for the SEC to bring such cases. Additionally, the judge dismissed the SEC’s fraud claims, stating that the agency failed to show any misleading communications to investors or misuse of funds within the United States. After the ruling, the SEC had until April 21 to amend its complaint. However, the agency announced it would not pursue the case further. This decision means that all claims against Heart and his projects are dismissed, and there are no findings of wrongdoing.
Richard Heart responded to the news on social media, saying: “Richard Heart, PulseChain, PulseX, and HEX have defeated the SEC completely and have achieved regulatory clarity that nearly no other coins have. They’re now safer to work with in ways that almost no other coins are. …this is the only case where the SEC lost and crypto won across the board, with a dismissal in court of every single claim the SEC brought.”
Legal experts say this ruling is significant for several reasons. First, it is seen as a major setback for the SEC’s current approach to regulating cryptocurrencies. The agency has faced criticism for what some see as overreach and for targeting projects that are not clearly within its jurisdiction. This case is one of the few where a court has dismissed every claim brought by the SEC against a crypto entrepreneur and their projects.
The decision is also being viewed as a win for open-source innovation and free speech. Many in the tech and legal communities argue that publishing open-source blockchain code should be protected as free speech. One U.S.-based attorney who attended the hearings, known as @NuclearHerbs on Twitter/X, commented. “This dismissal reinforces that publishing software — especially open-source blockchain code — is protected speech.”
The outcome of this case gives HEX, PulseChain, and PulseX a rare level of legal certainty in the cryptocurrency industry. Most crypto projects still face uncertainty about how U.S. regulators might view their activities. With this ruling, Heart’s projects now have a clear legal status, which could make them more attractive to developers, investors, and users. In summary, the dismissal of the SEC’s case against Richard Heart marks a major moment for the cryptocurrency sector. It highlights the challenges regulators face in applying existing laws to new technologies and sets a precedent for how courts may view similar cases in the future. For Heart and his supporters, it is a clear sign that their approach to blockchain and open-source software is on solid legal ground.
Sources:
- Chainwire: https://chainwire.org/2025/04/25/richard-heart-triumphs-in-court-after-sec-case-dismissed-in-full/
