‘Hawk Tuah Girl’ launched her own crypto, and you probably know what happened next
In the year of our lord 2024, internet personalities still think that launching cryptocurrencies is a good idea—and Haliey Welch, a.k.a. “Hawk Tuah Girl,” is the latest offender. But is anyone surprised, really?
I don’t think I have it in me to explain the origins of the “Hawk Tuah” meme again, but all you need to know is that I blame this situation on one thing, and one thing only: podcast mics. For context’s sake, know that it involves 20-something Haliey Welch and an X-rated joke she made while being interviewed on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee over the summer. Since then, the clip has been reposted, edited, and meme-ified so many times, I wouldn’t be surprised if it made its way to your grandma’s Facebook page. I would say “Hawk Tuah” memes are like kicking a dead horse, but even the horse is gone now.
The 18-second TikTok has had a rather unfortunate domino effect that has led us to the launch of her memecoin, HAWK. And to no one’s surprise, its rollout has been rife with accusations of insider trading and “rug-pulling.”
HAWK’s disasterous launch spurs damning pump-and-dump accusations
If 2024 hasn’t already proven to you that we are living in the worst timeline, HAWK has come to settle things once and for all. Per The Independent, the memecoin, which refers to a cryptocurrency inspired by internet memes or trends (i.e. Dogecoin), launched on the Solana blockchain earlier this week, only to surge well over 900% at a market cap of $490 million before crashing to just $60 million.
Buzzy meme coin launches like HAWK tend to draw the attention of “snipers,” a.k.a. bots that tap into blockchain technology to buy large amounts of cryptocurrencies with the hopes of re-selling these tokens at peak prices. These snipers acquired “between 80 and 90 percent of HAWK’s supply” before selling a few hours later for staggeringly high profits, thus plummeting its market price. Often, it’s investors working behind the curtain to inflate the value, which many—including YouTuber Coffeezilla—are now accusing HAWK of doing. Suffice it to say, it’s not looking too hot for Welch and the future of her brand.
We just can’t learn our lesson when it comes to crypto, huh?
Dare I say this was kind of … inevitable? The notion that Haliey Welch would get in on the crypto game after skyrocketing to social media superstardom hardly comes as a shock. I mean, let’s break down the stats here: fully soaking up her 15 minutes of fame, Welch has launched an AI-powered dating app, started a podcast, released a Hawk Tuah-themed product line at Spirit Halloween, and now has found herself embroiled in controversy for a questionable crypto project—all within five months.
Plus, she’s far from the first internet personality who thought launching a cryptocurrency was a good idea. Famously, Logan Paul (friend of the Talk Tuah podcast) found himself tangled up in a multi-million dollar lawsuit back in 2021 after his online NFT game, CryptoZoo, left players empty-handed when the market price of the zoo tokens crashed, as reported by TIME. It’s a textbook example of the ol’ “pump-and-dump” scheme, which the crypto world is all too familiar with.
So while Welch was most likely the victim of some poor advising, she probably should’ve known better than to tell Fortune that HAWK is “not just a cash grab,” and that it’s “a fun way to get my fans to interact.” I think I’ve seen this film before …
As of now, Welch and her team have yet to release an official statement regarding HAWK, but the woman in question still insists that they’ve done nothing wrong. On X, Welch claimed that her team “hasn’t sold one token and not 1 KOL was given 1 free token,” adding, “We tried to stop snipers as best we could through high [fees] in the start of launch on @MeteoraAG.” However, it might be too little, too late for those who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the aftermath—the post’s community note speaks for itself.
It’ll be interesting to see what becomes of HAWK on the heels of this undisputed mess, but either way, Welch is locked in for the next year until she can sell her tokens. In any case, the memes that have come out of this whole ordeal are wildly entertaining, so I, for one, am grabbing a bowl of popcorn and waiting to see how this Thang unravels.
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