'Hawk Tuah' Crypto Controversy is a Serious Retail Problem

Haliey Welch AKA “Hawk Tuah” girl has found herself caught in a memecoin controversy for allegedly selling that thang in an orchestrated pump and dump.

Her memecoin $HAWK, which launched on the Solana blockchain on Wednesday, peaked at a market cap of $490 million before crashing 91% to $41.7 million within hours after its debut.

The token's behaviour, which has classic attributes of a typical pump-and-dump pattern, raised concerns about insider activity and predatory trading tactics. Its launch appeared to be marred by "snipers" and insider wallets, which reportedly controlled 80-90% of the supply.

Bubblemaps’ analysis highlighted a cluster of interconnected wallets holding a significant majority of the token’s supply at launch, which triggered accusations of manipulation and a lack of transparency.

Data from Solana block explorer Solscan revealed that one wallet sniped 17.5% of the $HAWK supply seconds after launch, investing 4,195 Wrapped Solana ($993,000 at the time) and netting a profit of $1.3 million within 90 minutes.

On the other end, one X user reported a loss of $43,000 by investing in the memecoin, while another incurred losses exceeding $1.3 million by swapping $MOODENG for $HAWK.

Welch has since claimed on X that no tokens were sold by her team and that no free coins were distributed to KOLs.

Speaking to Fortune, Welch said her memecoin is "not just a cash grab." When asked about $HAWK's valuation, her manager Jonnie Forster said "We don't want to break securities laws" and “We would say that we’re almost, like, tokenizing, in a sense, Haliey’s fan base.”

Several social media users claimed to have filed complaints with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), citing the token’s deployment as potentially fraudulent. Many believe that Welch and her team could face regulatory scrutiny over the token’s launch.

Famed internet sleuth Coffeezilla, who described $HAWK as "one of the most miserable and horrible token launches [he's] ever seen," joined the token's Twitter spaces. When confronted about "who made millions of dollars" from fees in the scheme, the project owners failed to adequately answer the question.

"How much did Hailey Welch make?" Coffeezilla asked to which X user DocHollywoodArt responded, "It's a foundation that's running the project."

"How much does she own of it?" Coffeezilla pressed again.
"It's a foundation, she owns zero," DocHollywoodArt said.
"You're profiting from a rugpull," Coffezilla insisted.
"There was no rugpull, that's defamation," DocHollywood claimed.

More worryingly, $HAWK seems to have targeted investors with no knowledge of crypto. "$HAWK will onboard "normies" (non-crypto users)," a HAWK info deck reads.

The strategy is further backed up by DocHollywoodArt who said on the stream, "These are people that are outside of crypto that we're going to be onboarding. They don't even know what a market cap is. They just go 'oh cool free coin, now I get to join a community.'"

This underscores the biggest concern about the $HAWK scandal - the exploitation of those stepping into the crypto industry. While institutions have hit the ground running in the field, retail adoption will continue to face barriers if projects continue to capitalize on their lack of understanding.

$HAWK isn't the first time a Web2 fanbase has been exploited either. Famed YouTube creator Mr Beast also found himself in hot water for being tied to crypto pump-and-dumps.

Reports suggest the YouTuber profited millions by selling tokens like SHOPX, STAK, and FINE at peaks post-promotion, leaving his followers at losses. It's unclear what percentage of his followers are crypto natives but like Welch, his story is doing nothing but damage to the retail adoption story.