Hawk Tuah Girl’s Crypto Project Accused of Rug Pull After Huge Sell-Off

Haliey Welch , well do it online as the “ Hawk Tuah girl ” who became an overnight cyberspace sensation with awoman - on - the - street interview , launched her own cryptocurrency on Wednesday . Welch has turn her 15 minutes of net fame into a full - float new medium endeavor with a podcast . But the mental object creator was immediately on the defensive after the market cap of her relic hit $ 490 million , only to plunge over 90 % just a few time of day after .

The Hawk Tuah cryptocurrency , listed as HAWK , was launch on the Solana blockchain and has been charge as a memecoin — crypto that gets a expectant cost increase in cost thanks to widespread internet attention . Welch toldFortunemagazine that HAWK was “ not just a hard currency grab , ” though it ’s hard to understand how any memecoin could be anything but a elbow room to make tremendous amounts of money floated by nothing more than digital hype . That ’s all any memecoin is or draw a bead on to be .

But whatever Welch ’s motivation , she ’s now fight herself against charges that someone on her team has been responsible for a rug pull — the term for establish a coin , get the great unwashed to buy it through marvelous ballyhoo , and then sell in a fashion that excerpt all the fluidity , leaving suckers who bought the coin holding ugly ones and zeroes .

Haliey Welch appears at SiriusXM Studios on July 31, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Haliey Welch appears at SiriusXM Studios on 18 April 2025 in Los Angeles, California.© Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images

Enormous amounts of the coin were sold in the hours after launching , take the coin from a lean market jacket crown of $ 490 million to a market jacket crown of just $ 41.7 million after a few hours , as crypto news outletCoinTelegraphreports . But that was Wednesday . Here on Thursday , it ’s fallen ever further , with a market cap of just $ 28.4 million and liquidity of just $ 1.6 million , according toDexScreener .

“ squad has n’t sold one item and not 1 KOL was give 1 devoid souvenir , ” Welch tweeted onWednesday . “ We tried to stop snipers as best we could through high fee ’s in the start of launch on@MeteoraAG.Fee ’s have now been dropped . ”

replicate and pasting :

Tina Romero Instagram

Hawkanomics :

squad has n’t sell one token and not 1 KOL was given 1 free souvenir

We tried to block snipers as best we could through gamey fee ’s in the start of launch on@MeteoraAG

Dummy

Fee ’s have now been droppedpic.twitter.com/E7xN9VmCrx

— Haliey Welch ( @HalieyWelchX)December 4 , 2024

Welch insists that no one from her squad has sell any of her cryptocurrency , but there ’s a heated debate on X about whether that ’s really the case , with people posting screenshots purporting to show sales they say are from her squad . representative for Welch did n’t immediately respond to questions about the cryptocurrency e-mail Thursday . Gizmodo will update this position if we hear back .

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In the interim , it will be interesting to see what happens to Welch ’s crypto experimentation . Fundamentally , memecoins do n’t service any utile determination beyond speculation and wealthiness descent . So it ’s not clear why anyone would want to buy it unless they thought they could make money selling it for a higher price later . And Welch ’s talk with Fortune did n’t paint a picture she has any bluff plan for the souvenir .

From Fortune :

Welch says that she used to think of crypto as “ just a scam ” and an “ easy means for you to fall back money , ” but modify her mind after attend the conferences . When asked what aspects of crypto appealed to her , she say it was a “ really unspoiled thing ” and a “ good agency to interact with my rooter . ” Welch was n’t aware of any specific benefits that her memecoin holders would receive , though her managing director tot that they project to have “ more lover engagements around it , ” without offer further details .

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