Hawk Tuah Girl's" $HAWK Meme Coin Crashes Minutes After Launch

Hailey Welch, a social media influencer known as "Hawk Tuah Girl," launched her own meme coin, "$HAWK," launched on December 4th, 2024.  However, shortly after its debut, the coin experienced a sharp price drop of 90%. This crash followed allegations of insider trading and market manipulation. Evidence suggested that a small number of wallets controlled a significant portion of the token supply, allowing these holders to profit considerably from the initial price surge before the collapse.

As a result, investors have expressed their dissatisfaction, and there are indications of potential legal action against Welch, with complaints filed with the SEC.

Welch has strongly denied any involvement in the price crash of the cryptocurrency. She insists that neither she nor her team sold any tokens during the launch. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), she stated, "The team hasn't sold one token, and not one influencer was given free tokens." However, some community notes on her post questioned these statements, suggesting that insiders were selling their tokens from the beginning.

Jonnie Forster, Welch's manager, tried to distance HAWK from other celebrity crypto projects. He explained that they were not encouraging people to buy the token. Instead, they planned to give free tokens to Welch's social media followers and to customers who bought merchandise.

The situation escalated when Coffeezilla, a well-known cyber investigator, confronted Welch's team during a heated discussion on X Space, a live audio platform. One of her team members, DocHollywoodArt, responded defensively, which hurt public trust in the project even more.

As of December 5, 2024, HAWK's market capitalization has stabilized at about $34.3 million. However, the damage to its reputation may never be fixed. This incident has led to calls for more scrutiny and regulation of the cryptocurrency industry to protect investors from potential scams.