HEX

HEX is a rare case in DeFi: a finished, immutable contract. Once deployed in 2019 on Ethereum, the contract code was locked with no admin keys, no upgradeable proxy, and no privileged functions. The same bytecode was later deployed on PulseChain in 2023, making it identical across both chains.

Its staking logic (penalties, inflation, bonuses) is baked into the bytecode and cannot be changed, not even by its creator. Minimal surface area and a single-purpose design reduce operational complexity and remove governance risk entirely. There is no DAO, no foundation, and no team with authority to steer HEX.

The Origin Address (OA) holds a large portion of supply, and much of it is staked, but this represents economic gravity, not admin power. Crucially, HEX is immune to legal compulsion: even if regulators target Richard Heart or related entities, the contract is unstoppable because there are no keys to turn and no upgrade path to compel. The governance model is simply: there is none – the protocol is finished.

HEX front-ends are claimed to be mirrored to IPFS, but official site documentation does not explicitly confirm this; users can download and run them locally regardless. Even if domains were seized or censored, users can interact directly with the smart contract via any EVM wallet (MetaMask, OKX, Internet Money Wallet, PulseWallet). This resilience against front-end takedowns makes HEX one of the only protocols that can operate entirely independent of centralized hosting infrastructure.

No blacklist, pause, or seize functions exist at the contract level, meaning balances and stakes cannot be frozen by design. HEX has been live since 2019 with multiple audits and no critical contract-level exploits. Its simplicity and immutability reduce attack surface significantly compared to upgradeable protocols. The only concentration risk is in token supply distribution, with the OA holding a large share. However, this does not affect the protocol’s trustless nature, because the OA cannot change rules. HEX remains one of the most uncompromisingly immutable DeFi contracts ever deployed.