This article is a total misleading piece of information.
The code of the HEX token smart contract is publicly accessible and one can clearly see it implements the logic of a CD (certificate of deposit), you only need javascript knowledge to verify that.
The initial airdrop amounts are totally arbitrary though, with a founder getting more than everyone else. But that doesn't make something a ponzi scheme.
To qualify as a ponzi scheme you need to directly use newcomers investment money as return for old investors. There is absolutely no line of code in the contract that does this.
That's simply because the press and academia in the USA are extremely biased towards one political side.
Most of the people who think the current political or social state of the USA is horrible have never opened a single book about asian, african or eastern europe policies.
While everyone is formatted to be shocked by what is going on in the USA, they refuse to even see that torture (including citizens) and hardcorde censorship is routine and legal in a lot of asian countries.