Haliey Welch, “the Hawk Tuah girl,” gained notoriety in mid-2024 when a street interview that circulated overnight overnight made her an overnight sensation in cyberspace. Her “hawk tuah spit on that thang” mantra became a sensation, and she acquired over 4 million followers in a matter of days on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Building off of that momentum, Welch entered a new arena in December 2024 when she launched her own token, $Hawk, on Solana’s blockchain platform.
What had begun with such a strong potential for success for Welch and her followers soon developed into one of the most catastrophic cryptocurrency collapses in recent times. In a matter of a few minutes of its peak, the $Hawk token collapsed to near zero, with investors in shambles and Welch at the epicenter of a massive scandal.
On December 4, 2024, Welch released the $Hawk token, positioning it as a community-first, playful memecoin. Through her social following and enormous fan base, overnight, the token gained momentum, and social networks buzzed with its viability. Social media personalities and retail investors soon took a position in it, driving its value in the marketplace to near $500 million in a matter of a few hours of its launch.
With rapid price spikes and growing momentum, $Hawk appeared to be the new memecoin craze. Most investors saw it as an opportunity to make quick fortunes, and followers of Welch shared a long-term vision for the project. But the boom did not last long enough
Just as soon as $Hawk token rose, it collapsed. In a mere 20-minute span, the value of the token plunged over 95%, erasing investors’ millions in assets. What was a marketplace worth almost a half a billion dollars shrunk down to $41 million.
The sudden drop elicited accusations of a “pump-and-dump” scheme, in which insiders cause a price increase in a coin, then sell at its value, producing a quick price drop. There were accusations, including one leveled by famous cryptocurrency journalist Coffeezilla, of insider trading and possibly manipulating investors. Most suspected Welch and her team of having gotten everyone to believe that the project existed.
Welch, however, insisted that she did nothing wrong, saying she’d been misled by whoever oversaw the project. In her public statements, she was disbelieved by most investors, who called for accountability and financial restitution.
The failure of $Hawk created a storm in the form of lawsuits. Investors launched a court case in rapid succession, suing entities involved in creating the token. OverHere Ltd., Tuah The Moon Foundation, and key persons such as Clinton So and Alex Larson Schultz, were sued for fraud in offering and selling an unregistered security.
Interestingly, Welch herself wasn’t even included in the suit, but she took a lot of flack in the public sphere, with many holding her responsible for taking her web success and monetizing it for financial reward at the expense of her followers.
As a response to the controversy, Welch became quiet. She took down her podcast, “Talk Tuah,” deleted promotional tweets for $Hawk, and vanished off social media, avoiding press and public appearances for a period of several months.
Welch stayed out of view for several months, but speculations about her involvement in the $Hawk scandal never ceased to exist. That changed in early 2025, when a leaked episode of her podcast with YouTuber FaZe Banks was posted. In a tearful audio, Welch cried, discussing the scandal for the first time ever.
In the episode, Welch insisted that she bore no malice and that she confided in the wrong people. “I never planned for any of this to have happened. I thought I was part of a group that would be exciting for my followers,” she said, her voice trembling with emotion. “I lost as much as everyone else.”
She also added that all of the podcast episode’s proceeds will go towards charities for animals displaced and affected by fires recently, in a seeming attempt to deflect controversy and channel discussion towards philanthropy. While her return received a mixed reaction, with many empathizing with her and others speculating, whether her outburst of emotion was a calculated move to revamp her tainted image.
