Haliey Welch, widely recognized as the star of the widely shared “Hawk Tuah” meme, is currently under fire. Her newly launched cryptocurrency experienced a significant nosedive in value. Just after its Wednesday launch, the “Hawk” digital coin reached a $490m market cap. However, within hours, it astonishingly lost over 95% of its value. This has sparked accusations from some, like YouTube cryptocurrency investigator Coffeezilla, who claim that Ms. Welch scammed investors through a “pump and dump” scheme. Here, the people behind the coin hype it up before launch and then sell it for profit. But she has firmly denied claims that her team sold any of the tokens they owned.

The Cryptocurrency Debacle of the “Hawk Tuah Girl” Haliey Welch

Initial Launch and Market Surge

Hawk launched on the Solana blockchain around 22:00 GMT on Wednesday. Shortly after, its market capitalization soared to highs of $490m. It seemed like a promising start for the cryptocurrency. But as quickly as it rose, it fell sharply. Just 20 minutes later, it dropped from this high to around $60m. This rapid decline left fans and investors shocked and questioning the integrity of the launch.Fans and investors have expressed their disappointment, accusing Ms. Welch and her team of “misleading” and “betraying” them. Some even suggested that the launch was a “rug pull,” where promoters draw in buyers only to stop trading activity and make off with the money raised from sales. A community note on Ms. Welch’s X post contests her explanation, stating that her team had been selling their Hawk coins since the launch.

Scam Allegations and Controversies

Coffeezilla, with his real name Stephen Findeisen, has also brought up concerns. He claimed that Hawk gave “insiders” an advantage. He said in a video viewed over 1.4 million times that these situations are not targeting crypto bros but mostly actual fans who have never been involved in the crypto space before. He accused Ms. Welch’s team of “profiting from a rug pull.” After sharing a clip of him speaking to some of the people behind the cryptocurrency, he claimed that these people were unwilling to take any accountability for the “Hawk Tuah scam.”Ms. Welch’s post on X claimed that her team tried to prevent “snipers” who buy and sell cryptocurrencies quickly for profit using automated trading tools by imposing higher fees on one exchange. However, the team behind the cryptocurrency, OverHere, has dismissed other claims about the launch in an X post, stressing that “Haliey’s Team has sold absolutely no tokens whatsoever.”Meme coins like Hawk have been booming in popularity due to their light-hearted and cheap appeal for investors. They are often seen as less risky than more high-profile crypto assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum but carry the same dangers. There is often no protection for those who lose money on them.Carol Alexander, a professor of finance at Sussex University, told the BBC on Thursday that while more young people are investing in meme coins, many of them are losing money. This is not an isolated incident. Several celebrities or influencers who have ventured into the crypto market have faced similar backlashes. In 2021, Kim Kardashian was fined $1.26m by US regulators for failing to disclose that she was paid to post an advert for a cryptocurrency scheme called EthereumMax. More recently, YouTuber Logan Paul was accused of misleading fans by promoting crypto coins or investments without disclosing his own financial interest.

Who is “Hawk Tuah Girl” Haliey Welch?

Known online as the “Hawk Tuah girl,” Ms. Welch went viral after speaking the onomatopoeia “hawk tuah” during an interview in June. This simple act made the 22-year-old from Belfast, Tennessee, an overnight internet sensation. She amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across various social platforms and launched her own merchandise and a podcast called “Talk Tuah.”Her manager told the Hollywood Reporter in July that she was unique in that she did not seek out internet fame. She had been off social media for mental health reasons for several months before appearing in the now-viral “Hawk Tuah” video. Rolling Stone has compared her funny, small-town personality to a “Gen Z Dolly Parton.” Ms. Welch told outlet TMZ ahead of Hawk’s launch on Wednesday that she launched it to deal with “a bunch of imposters” pretending to be her and selling their own coins. She believed it was a great way to bring her fans and community together.