Her lawyer places the full losses from the botched HAWK token launch at roughly $200,000 — a determine that, on the planet of crypto, barely registers. However for Hailey Welsh, higher identified on-line because the “Hawk Tuah Girl,” the fallout from that December 2024 catastrophe was something however small.
Hawk Tuah: Dying Threats And Silence Adopted The Crash
Welsh informed the YouTube channel Channel 5 that she went into hiding for months after the token’s collapse, pushed there by a wave of demise threats and public anger.
“I am sitting right here, and I am the one getting hit for this,” she mentioned. “It is tough.” She described pulling her head down at any time when she stepped exterior, bracing for hostility wherever she went. The expertise, she mentioned, left her traumatized.
The HAWK memecoin launched in December 2024 and exploded virtually instantly. Inside hours, its market cap surged previous $490 million. Then it collapsed simply as quick — down greater than 90% the subsequent day, bottoming out round $40 million.
It has since fallen to simply over $1 million. The crash was extensively labeled a rug pull, though Welsh insists she had no hand in engineering it.
She informed Channel 5’s Andrew Callaghan that she was approached and agreed to advertise the coin with out absolutely greedy what she was entering into.
She mentioned she acquired not one of the proceeds and lacked the technical data to launch a token within the first place. And the Federal Bureau of Investigation prob examined her function in 2025. Investigators cleared her of any wrongdoing.
Lawsuit Targets Creators, Not Welsh
An investor lawsuit filed in December 2024 named the workforce and entities behind the coin — not Welsh. The swimsuit alleged that these events offered unregistered securities.
Welsh was saved out of the authorized motion totally, which tracks together with her account of being a public face somewhat than a decision-maker.
Nonetheless, not everyone seems to be moved by her model of occasions. Onchain analyst ZachXBT mentioned the broader crypto neighborhood had repeatedly warned Welsh to not transfer ahead with a token launch.
She launched one anyway. When it collapsed, he mentioned, she went quiet whereas buyers absorbed the losses.
Hawk Tuah Woman Now Tells Others To Keep away from Crypto Solely
Greater than a yr after the incident, Welsh says she nonetheless doesn’t perceive the crypto trade. Her recommendation to anybody contemplating getting concerned: keep out.
She informed Callaghan that individuals should be cautious about what they connect their title to — a lesson she realized the onerous manner.
Whether or not Welsh was a sufferer, a prepared participant, or one thing in between stays a matter of debate. What will not be in dispute is that the coin was launched, it failed, and actual people lost money.
Her lawyer’s $200,000 estimate of retail losses might sound modest towards the token’s once-massive valuation, nevertheless it was actual cash that belonged to actual individuals who purchased in her title.
Featured picture from Getty Photographs, chart from TradingView
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