Haliey Welch, widely recognized as the Hawk Tuah girl, is under fire after a YouTube investigator, Stephen “Coffeezilla,” confronted her during a live stream regarding allegations of insider trading and unethical practices tied to the launch of the $HAWK meme coin.
A troubled launch
The $HAWK coin debuted on the Solana blockchain on December 4, 2024, but its initial success was short-lived. Within just 20 minutes of its launch, the coin’s value plummeted from $500 million to $60 million. This steep decline left investors furious and sparked allegations of a “rug pull” scheme, where creators allegedly dump their holdings to profit while leaving investors with devalued assets.
During a live confrontation, Coffeezilla directly accused Welch and her team of orchestrating suspicious activities around the coin’s launch.
“This is one of the most miserable, horrible launches I’ve ever seen,” he stated. “I’ve been tracing it on the chain for a while. You guys generated over a million dollars in fees, while your fans got rug pulled. There were snipers, but there was also insider trading directly linked to y’all’s creator accounts.”
Coffeezilla’s remarks intensified scrutiny of Welch and her involvement in the coin’s controversial debut.
Hawk Tuah Girl addresses the backlash
Responding to the accusations, Welch took to X (formerly Twitter) to address the backlash. In her statement, she denied that her team or any Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) were given free tokens, emphasizing efforts to prevent snipers during the launch.
“We set high fees during the initial launch on Meteora to mitigate sniper activity,” Welch wrote, defending her team’s approach.
Blockchain analytics from Bubblemaps revealed concerning details about the $HAWK token’s distribution. Initially, 96% of the token’s supply was controlled by insiders—a figure that has since decreased to 79%. However, these numbers have only fueled allegations of market manipulation.
Hawk Tuah Girl team siphoned off $2 million
Critics claim the HAWK team siphoned off $2 million, leaving investors with significant losses. The dramatic rise and fall of the coin’s value have drawn widespread condemnation, with social media platforms flooded with accusations of insider trading and unethical practices.
