Add Haliey Welch, the viral “Hawk Tuah” star, to the growing list of influences misadventures in the crypto space.
The meme personality is facing serious backlash after his newly launched cryptocurrency, Hawk, took a peeled off from a market capitalization of $490 million to just $60 million in just hours.
The crypto community, including YouTuber “Coffeezilla” (whose real name is Stephen Findeisen), accuses Welch of running a “pump and dump” scheme, where hype drives up the price, only for insiders to cash out and leave the hung investors.
Welch has denied any wrongdoing. In a social media post, he said his team was “trying to stop snipers,” bad actors who artificially inflate prices to buy large quantities early, creating an illusion of demand.
A community note on Welch X’s post indicated that Welch’s team had “sold their token since launch.”
At last check on Saturday, Hawk Tuah’s coin was down more than 7%. A few minutes earlier, it was up 0.45%.
What is at stake and has Hawk Tuah Girl profited?
Sniping entices ordinary investors to buy a token at a high price, thinking they are catching a rising trend.
After the snipers sell their stake, the price of the token falls off a cliff, leaving late investors holding almost worthless assets.
Hawk launched on the Solana blockchain, and while meme coins are generally seen as low-risk entertainment, this has sparked accusations of carpet pulla cryptocurrency scam in which developers withdraw cash or suddenly abandon a project, resulting in a drop in the price of the token.
In a YouTube video posted on December 5th, Coffeezilla – which has made a name for itself by examining the legitimacy of influencer-backed coins (i.e. Andrew Tate) – noted that
Welch, who made a name for himself by pretending to spit in a viral videostated that the coin was intended to unite fans and face imitators.
Unfortunately, it seems that the only thing that united them was confusion. A recorded back-and-forth between Coffeezilla and Welch’s legal representative, which currently has over 2.7 million views on YouTube, reveals what appears to be a convoluted payment structure for Welch and the Hawk Tuah-inspired coin.
Welch, according to Coffeezilla, citing comments from its representatives, was paid about $125,000 upfront by an unnamed company to market the Hawk Tuah token. It was then slated to receive 50% of net proceeds after “payments of costs to third parties,” adds Coffeezilla.
Details regarding third parties are not clear. Crypto.news asked Welch for comment, but he did not hear back.
“I think this whole situation is terrible and she must feel bad,” concludes Coffeezilla. “(Welch) got into bed with these people who clearly saw dollar signs. She saw dollar signs and they did this and people got hurt.”
See Coffeezilla’s exposure first.
