Hawk Tuah Girl: how a cryptocurrency blew up $500 million in one fell swoop

To begin this story, we start by introducing its main character: Haliey Welch, a 22-year-old from Belfast, Tennessee, who went viral thanks to a legendary phrase she blurted out in a TikTok interview: ‘Hawk Tuah’.

Haliey Welch began to gain popularity and did what everyone does in their 15 minutes of fame: squeeze the most out of it, albeit very well advised and directed.

The young American soon launched ‘Talk Tuah’, a podcast that quickly became one of the top five most listened to podcasts in the world, with guests such as JoJo Siwa, Mark Cuban and Jake Paul.

At the same time, Haliey Welch was charging $30,000 for attending exclusive parties and selling all kinds of merchandise with her recognisable phrase inscribed on it. Her bank account grew at the same rate as her popularity.

Photo: Hailey Welch / X

But Haliey Welch wanted to go one step further and decided to capitalise on her fame by dabbling in the complicated world of cryptocurrencies, launching her own memecoin, which she named HAWK, based on one of her viral memes.

Photo: Hailey Welch / X

The token was launched in early December 2024 and quickly reached a market capitalisation of $500 million, supported by the popularity of its creator and image.

Photo: Hailey Welch / X

The problem came when, just three hours after launching, HAWK went from $500 million to $60 million, losing about 90% of its value, i.e. generating massive losses for its investors in a matter of minutes.

Beyond the volatility that characterises cryptocurrencies, many investors pointed directly to a case of ‘Rug Pull’: a scenario in the cryptocurrency world where 'developers abandon a project after raising assets, leaving participants with worthless tokens', according to Coinbase.

Photo: Hailey Welch / X

Far from improving, the situation has worsened and HAWK is already losing 95% of its initial capitalisation. Obviously, investors want answers and, above all, their money.

Photo: Gecko Terminal

According to Dexscreener, suspicions point to the main investors and a massive sell-off of the token, when it reached its maximum price, hence the abrupt fall. This suspicion is not helped by the fact that just 10 wallets control 87% of the total supply of HAWK.

Hailey Welch was quick to explain what happened in an interview with Fortune, denying any manipulation of the price and also that no one on the team or the developers had sold the cryptocurrency.

But the dreaded Community Notes on X came in and debunked Haliey Welch's story. ‘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. Hailey is lying and will probably have to 'talk tuah' judge about this,’ the note states.

Photo: Hailey Welch / X

In fact, according to many small investors on social media, Haliey Welch may indeed be taken to court for what happened. She will not be the first Tiktoker to do so, but she will be the first to do so for this reason.

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Photo: Hailey Welch / X