Haliey Welch, known mostly as the star of the viral “Hawk Tuah” meme, is facing criticism after her newly launched cryptocurrency nosedived in value.
“Hawk tuah” girl Haliey Welch is still going strong. Welch went viral this summer for her off-color catchphrase and has since parlayed that fame into a merchandise line and podcast featuring such guests as Mark Cuban. Now she has found a new way to express a phrase that can’t be explained in polite company: a “memecoin” that launches today on the Solana blockchain.
Memecoins are cryptocurrencies that, true to their name, go viral among internet communities on platforms like Telegram and Discord, often based on fleeting moments like the right-wing mascot Peanut the Squirrel. In many cases, buyers rush into the coins and the price spikes—sometimes reaching market caps in the billions of dollars—until holders stampede to sell before the value plummets.
In an interview with Fortune, Welch insisted that her memecoin, named HAWK, is “not just a cash grab,” but offered few details about how it could be used for more than speculation. In her distinctive Southern twang, Welch said explained she wants to change the public’s view on crypto, though her manager, Jonnie Forster, interceded when asked about HAWK’s valuation and legal uncertainty. “We don’t want to break securities laws,” Forster told Fortune. “We would say that we’re almost, like, tokenizing, in a sense, Haliey’s fan base.”
Hawking crypto
In contrast to the more serious side of crypto, where the likes of BlackRock and Fidelity are helping to bring Bitcoin to the world, HAWK will likely find its place in a corner of the industry dominated by so-called “degens”—short for degenerates, who delight in memes, trolling, and get-rich-quick schemes.
The world of memecoins seems a fitting place for Welch, whose TikTok video describing oral sex garnered millions of views and vaulted her to sudden stardom. After her initial burst of fame, she has stayed in the news with acts like throwing out the first pitch at a New York Mets game, and through her podcast, which debuted as the third most popular on Spotify. But when it comes to memecoins, Welch will want to tread carefully.
Celebrities have a long and disastrous history of hawking cryptocurrencies, with luminaries including Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather both reaching settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to disclose payments for promoting tokens. (When asked by Fortune, Welch said she “wasn’t aware” that the government had gone after celebrities.)
Still, in her interview with Fortune, Welch said that she is genuinely interested in using crypto, and her memecoin, as a way to connect with her fans. Her manager also made clear that the HAWK token is different than other celebrity crypto involvement because they are not telling people to buy it and instead will give free tokens to social media followers and fans who have bought her merchandise. Forster said Welch will own 10% of the supply but will not be able to sell for a year.
Welch began turning up on the crypto scene shortly after her TikTok video, including at the Bitcoin conference in her home state of Tennessee and at Korea Blockchain Week—appearances that prompted head-scratching among longtime digital asset hands. She told Fortune that other celebrities like rapper Lil Pump introduced her to crypto, and she scored an invite to the crypto-powered fighting league Karate Combat, which has become widely attended by influencers.
Welch says that she used to think of crypto as “just a scam” and an “easy way for you to lose money,” but changed her mind after attending the conferences. When asked what aspects of crypto appealed to her, she said it was a “really good thing” and a “good way to interact with my fans.” Welch wasn’t aware of any specific benefits that her memecoin holders would receive, though her manager added that they plan to have “more fan engagements around it,” without offering further details.
Memecoins have exploded in popularity as a form of social gambling, with Andreessen Horowitz crypto chief technology officer Eddy Lazzarin describing them as “casinos” that are “undermining the long-term vision of crypto,” though other investors tout them as a way to financialize communities.
Welch and her manager maintain that the HAWK memecoin is not about its valuation (though they would likely get some inquiries from the SEC if they said otherwise). “I don’t really see it as, like, a gambling thing,” Welch told Fortune. “I think it’s, like, a fun way to get my fans to interact.”
Her “Hawk” digital coin hit a $490m market cap shortly after it launched on Wednesday, before suddenly losing more than 95% of its value within hours.
This has led some, including YouTube cryptocurrency investigator Coffeezilla, to accuse Ms Welch of scamming investors with a “pump and dump” – where the people behind a coin hype up its price before launch, then sell it for profit.
She has denied allegations that her team sold any of the tokens they owned.
The BBC has approached Ms Welch’s representatives for comment.
“Team hasn’t sold one token,” she wrote in a copy and pasted post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.
She added that no “KOL” (key opinion leaders) were gifted a free token.
Ms Welch had previously distributed free Hawk tokens to some fans ahead of the launch across social media.
Hawk launched on the Solana blockchain at around 22:00 GMT on Wednesday, and its market capitalisation soared to highs of $490m shortly after.
However it fell sharply from this high to around $60m just 20 minutes later.
Fans and investors have accused Ms Welch and her team of “misleading” and “betraying” them and suggested the launch had been a “rug pull” – where promoters of a cryptocurrency draw in buyers, only to stop trading activity and make off with money raised from sales.
A community note on Ms Welch’s X post contests her explanation, saying her team had been selling their Hawk coins since launch.
Scam allegations
Coffeezilla, real name Stephen Findeisen, also claimed that Hawk gave “insiders” an advantage.
“Unfortunately with situations like this, they’re not targeting crypto bros, they’re mostly targeting actual fans who have never been involved in the crypto space before,” he said in a video viewed more than 1.4 million times.
He accused Ms Welch’s team of “profiting from a rug pull”.
“These people were unwilling to take any accountability” of the “Hawk Tuah scam”, he claimed, after sharing a clip of him speaking to some of the people behind the cryptocurrency.
Ms Welch’s post on X claimed that her team attempted to prevent so-called “snipers”, who buy and sell cryptocurrencies quickly at moments when they are likely to make the most money from a gap in buy and sell price – sometimes using automated trading tools – by imposing higher fees on one exchange.
The team behind the cryptocurrency, OverHere, has dismissed other claims about the launch in an X post.
It stressed that “Haliey’s Team has sold absolutely no tokens whatsoever”.
Meme coins such as this have been booming in popularity due to their jokey, cheap appeal for investors.
They are often viewed as being less risky than more high profile crypto assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum, but carry the same dangers – with often no protection for those who lose money on them.
Carol Alexander, professor of finance at Sussex University, told the BBC on Thursday that while more young people are investing in meme coins, many of them are losing money.
Several celebrities or influencers who have ventured into the crypto market have faced similar backlashes.
In 2021, Kim Kardashian was fined $1.26m by US regulators after she failed to disclose that she had been paid to post an advert for a cryptocurrency scheme called EthereumMax.
More recently, YouTuber Logan Paul was accused of misleading fans by promoting crypto coins or investments without divulging his own financial interest in them.
Who is ‘Hawk Tuah Girl’ Haliey Welch?
Known online as the “Hawk Tuah girl”, Ms Welch went viral after speaking the onomatopoeia “hawk tuah” – imitating the sound of someone spitting – during an interview in June.
It made the 22-year-old, from Belfast, Tennessee, an overnight internet sensation.
She amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across various social platforms and launched her own merchandise and a podcast called “Talk Tuah”.
Her manager told the Hollywood Reporter in July that she was unique in not having sought out internet fame, having been off social media for mental health reasonsfor several months before appearing in the now-viral “Hawk Tuah” video.
Rolling Stone has likened her funny, small-town personality to a “Gen Z Dolly Parton”.
Ms Welch told outlet TMZ ahead of Hawk’s launch on Wednesday that she launched it to tackle “a bunch of imposters” pretending to be her and selling their own coins.
“It’s a really good way to get all my fans and community to interact and come together,” she said.
