Hawk Tuah Influencer Says Memecoin Collapse Left Her Traumatized, But Critics Push Back
Her lawyer places the full losses from the botched HAWK token launch at roughly $200,000 — a determine that, on the earth of crypto, barely registers. But for Hailey Welsh, higher recognized on-line because the “Hawk Tuah Girl,” the fallout from that December 2024 catastrophe was something however small.
Hawk Tuah: Death Threats And Silence Followed The Crash
Welsh instructed YouTube channel Channel 5 that she went into hiding for months after the token’s collapse, pushed there by a wave of demise threats and public anger.
“I’m sitting right here, and I’m the one getting hit for this,” she stated. “It’s tough.” She described pulling her head down each time she stepped exterior, bracing for hostility wherever she went. The expertise, she stated, left her traumatized.
The HAWK memecoin launched in December 2024 and exploded nearly instantly. Within hours, its market cap surged previous $490 million. Then it collapsed simply as quick — down greater than 90% the subsequent day, bottoming out round $40 million.
It has since fallen to simply over $1 million. The crash was broadly labeled a rug pull, although Welsh insists she had no hand in engineering it.
She instructed Channel 5’s Andrew Callaghan that she was approached and agreed to advertise the coin with out absolutely greedy what she was stepping into.
She stated she obtained not one of the proceeds and lacked the technical information to launch a token within the first place. A Federal Bureau of Investigation probe examined her function in 2025. Investigators cleared her of any wrongdoing.
Lawsuit Targets Creators, Not Welsh
An investor lawsuit filed in December 2024 named the crew and entities behind the coin — not Welsh. The go well with alleged these events bought unregistered securities.
Welsh was saved out of the authorized motion totally, which tracks together with her account of being a public face relatively than a decision-maker.
Still, not everyone seems to be moved by her model of occasions. Onchain analyst ZachXBT stated the broader crypto group had warned Welsh repeatedly to not transfer ahead with a token launch.
She launched one anyway. When it collapsed, he stated, she went quiet whereas traders absorbed the losses.
Hawk Tuah Girl Now Tells Others To Avoid Crypto Entirely
More than a 12 months after the incident, Welsh says she nonetheless doesn’t perceive the crypto trade. Her recommendation to anybody contemplating getting concerned: keep out.
She instructed Callaghan that folks have to be cautious about what they connect their identify to — a lesson she realized the laborious means.
Whether Welsh was a sufferer, a keen participant, or one thing in between stays a matter of debate. What just isn’t in dispute is that the coin was launched, it failed, and actual people lost money.
Her lawyer’s $200,000 estimate of retail losses could sound modest towards the token’s once-massive valuation, but it surely was actual cash that belonged to actual individuals who purchased in on her identify.
Featured picture from Getty Images, chart from TradingView
