Hailey Welch, the net social media influencer, popularly referred to as the “Hawk Tuah lady,” stated that the implosion of the “HAWK” memecoin, which she promoted in 2024, and the following social backlash “traumatized” her.
“I acquired talked into doing one thing that I did not know something about, actually, however you have to be actually cautious what you place your identify on,” Welsh informed Andrew Callaghan of the Channel 5 YouTube channel on Friday.
Welsh stated she totally cooperated with a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe in 2025, which cleared her of any wrongdoing, and that she didn’t possess any of the funds from the memecoin launch, nor did she have the technical experience to launch the coin.
She added that the full quantity misplaced by “actual folks” within the botched memecoin launch was not vital, together with her lawyer estimating the full greenback quantity misplaced by retail buyers at about $200,000.
Regardless of this, Welsh stated she acquired loss of life threats and tried to maintain a low profile for months after the incident, which took a toll on her psychological well being. She stated:
“I used to be beginning to get loss of life threats and all the things else. Individuals telling me I owe all of them this cash, and I am like, ‘I did not do that.’ I am sitting right here, and I am the one getting hit for this. It is tough. It is a type of issues the place in case you come out of the home, you place your head down.”
Nevertheless, not everybody was satisfied by Welsh’s feedback. “Nobody ought to really feel dangerous for the ‘trauma,’” onchain sleuth ZachXBT stated.
“She begins posting about meme cash. The whole lot of [crypto Twitter] tells her ‘don’t launch a token.’ She launches a memecoin anyway, and after, she blames companions and disappears off social media, with followers shedding funds,” he added.
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The HAWK memecoin crashes and burns shortly after arrival
The HAWK memecoin launched in December 2024 and surged to a market capitalization of over $490 million mere hours after going reside.
Hawk collapsed by over 91% the next day, falling to a market cap of about $41 million, and was broadly characterised as a rug pull.
In December 2024, an investor lawsuit was filed towards the staff and entities that created and managed the memecoin launch, however not Welsh, alleging that the entities bought unregistered securities.
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