Haliey Welch launched her meme coin on December 4, causing a stir online.
Known as Hawk Tuah Girl, Haliey has faced backlash after introducing her cryptocurrency, which has sparked major controversy among her followers.
Haliey gained widespread attention this past summer for her bold, NSFW comments about “what drives a guy crazy in bed.” This remark earned her the nickname “Hawk Tuah Girl” and significantly boosted her social media presence.
Since then, she has gained nearly three million Instagram followers and even started her podcast, further growing her influence.
Recently, Hailey took her projects further by launching her meme coin called HAWK.
The cryptocurrency was officially released on December 4 and started off strong.
At its highest point, HAWK coin’s market value reached an impressive $490 million.
However, the success didn’t last long. The value quickly dropped by 91% in just three hours, according to CoinTelegraph.
The coin’s value fell to $41.7 million, leaving many investors upset and facing financial losses.
The fallout has been tough for those who invested in Haliey’s coin, with many people expressing their frustrations online.
Several reported losing large amounts of money just minutes after buying the cryptocurrency.
One Twitter user shared that they spent $35,000 on HAWK, only to watch its value drop to $2,000 soon after.
“I am a huge fan of Hawk Tuah but you took my life savings,” they wrote, addressing Haliey directly on the platform.
“I purchased your coin $Hawk that you were so excited about with my life savings and children’s college education fund as well.”
Another upset investor accused Haliey of not sharing important details, saying: “You didn’t mention that you were going to buy 97% of the supply and sell it almost immediately to make a large profit.”
Elsewhere, a disappointed user commented: “So… it turns out the Hawk Tuah crypto meme coin was not a good investment.”
Many others have also accused Haliey of organizing a “rug pull,” which is a term in the crypto world for a scam where developers leave a project and take the investors’ money.
“I only wish there was a way that Hawk Tuah Girl could quickly make tens of millions of dollars on the internet to pay back everyone that got rug-pulled on her meme coin,” one person tweeted, showing their disappointment.
Another added: “We live in a weird timeline. @HalieyWelchX aka ‘Hawk Tuah’ girl used her popularity to create a meme coin on the Solana blockchain. Then she rug pulled the investors. Is this legal?”
Some critics have gone further, suggesting that Haliey should face legal consequences for what happened.
A few angry people have even said outright that she “deserves to be in jail right now.”
Despite the backlash, Haliey has denied doing anything wrong. She defended herself and her team, responding to the accusations during a live Twitter stream.
In one tweet, she claimed: “Hawkanomics: Team hasn’t sold one token and not 1 KOL was given 1 free token.”
She also added: “We tried to stop snipers as best we could through high fees at the start of launch on @MeteoraAG. Fees have now been dropped.”
However, critics have disagreed with her claims, accusing her team of unethical actions. They said: “The ‘team’ and insiders have actually been selling their token since launch. A majority have never purchased anything and have only sold the tokens they were given. Haliey is lying and will likely have to ‘talk tuah’ judge about this.”
During the live stream, popular YouTube investigator Stephen ‘Coffeezilla’ joined the conversation and pressed Haliey about the accusations. He didn’t hold back, saying: “This is one of the most miserable, horrible launches I’ve ever seen. I’ve been tracing it on the chain for a while. You guys generated over a million dollars in fees, while your fans got rug pulled. There were snipers, but there was also insider trading directly linked to y’all’s creator accounts.”
