Hawk Tuah girl Haliey Welch torn to shreds after meme coin disaster

Viral sensation Haliey Welch has come under heavy fire in the wake of her meme cryptocurrency that crashed within hours of going live.

Internet sensation Haliey Welch has come under heavy fire from NRL supremo Phil Gould following her meme coin disaster.

Welch rose to fame earlier this year after an “on the street” style interview where she used the term “hawk tuah” to describe a sex act.

She capitalised on that fame by starting her own podcast “Talk Tuah” before attempting to dip her toe into the crypto market by launching Hawkcoin.

Within hours of going live on December 4 the memecoin on, trading under $HAWK, hit a peak total market value of US$490 million but a major sell off saw that drop to US$26.4 million.

The backlash to the coin came in thick and fast with Gould weighing in on the disaster that could potentially see Welch hit with lawsuits.

“So people invested in a meme launched by this Hawk Tuah girl? … And it went bad? … Who could possibly see that coming?” Gould wrote on X.

Social media influencer Paige Spiranac also delivered a not-so-subtle jab at Welch and the controversy she has found herself wrapped up in.

“If I’ve learned anything, it’s to never release a memecoin,” Spiranac wrote.

Hawk Tuah girl is in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. (Photo by Gotham/GC Images)

Gus called out the launch. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Welch is facing backlash and scrutiny over her cryptocurrency, with some suggested it was used as a pump-and-dump scheme – or artificially inflating value before quickly selling for profit.

The Tennessean took to social media to deny any wrongdoing.

“Team hasn’t sold one token and not 1 KOL was given 1 free token,” Ms Welch said in a post on X.

“We tried to stop snipers as best we could through high fee’s in the start of launch on Meteora.”

She previously told Fortune that her memecoin – so-named due to being based on pop culture – was “not just a cash grab”.

Spiranac took aim at the launch. (Photo by Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit)

Welch went viral for saying hawk tuah.

Law firm Burwick Law, which specialises in digital consumer protection, has put a call out on social media for those impacted by the crash to come forward.

“If you lost money on $HAWK, contact our firm to learn about your legal rights,” it wrote on X.

“Our firm represents thousands of nft and token investors in securities matters.”

Coin Telegraph, a news website covering crypto markets, reports that data from platforms Bubblemaps and Dexscreener a mix of insider wallets and “snipers” controlled between 80 to 90 per cent of $HAWK’s supply at launch.

Snipers are entities that buy up large amounts of a token’s supply at launch before selling at a profit.

The viral sensation has been called out.

Welch is under heavy fire.

One buyer’s wallet sniped HAWK seconds after its launch, purchasing 17.5 per cent of the supply of the memecoin for the equivalent of US$993,000.

They proceeded to sell 135.8 million tokens for a profit of $1.3 million, Coin Telegraph reports.

An online crypto sleuth codenamed Coffeezilla went at Ms Welch and her team in an X space discussing the issue overnight.

He said on the conference, “this is worst tokenomics I have ever seen … and it’s a scam”.

“You guys generated over a million in fees while y’all’s fans got rug pulled,” he said.

A member of the Hawkcoin project responded to say it was not a scam and that they were planning for it to be a long-term offering.

“We’re really trying to do something here and not just do it for one day,” the man said. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​