In one of the most bizarre cryptocurrency stories to grace us in recent months, Hawk Tuah girl's team is being sued over her memecoin venture.
What a year it's been for Haliey Welch, who became an overnight internet sensation with her NSFW answer to 'what makes guys go crazy in bed'.
That was June, and by September, her status as a viral celebrity was cemented by her own podcast, amusingly titled Talk Tuah.
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While Welch launching her own memecoin certainly wasn't on my 2024 bingo card, she went and did it.
And seems there was demand for $HAWK too, with some people reportedly sinking their life savings into the cryptocurrency.
But maybe that wasn't the smartest of ideas, as the memecoin drastically dropped in value within just 20 minutes of its launch.
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What's happened is an apparent 'rug pull', as cryptocurrency experts call it, where snipers end up making a huge profit.
These are people who 'buy the asset where it's cheaper and instantly sell it where it's more expensive, profiting from the price gap', explains CoinMarketCap.
So let's take a look back at what exactly happened...
December 4 - $HAWK is released
Welch released her Solana-based memecoin, $HAWK.
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That same day, its value reportedly plummeted from as much as $490 million to just $41 million.
Some news outlets reckon it lost more than 95 percent of its value.
December 6 - Welch addresses controversy
Welch denied the 'rug pull' accusations during a livestream on Twitter.
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"Hawkanomics: Team hasn’t sold one token and not 1 KOL was given 1 free token," she tweeted in a copy and pasted message.
"We tried to stop snipers as best we could through high fee’s in the start of launch on @MeteoraAG. Fee’s have now been dropped."
But readers added their own context to the tweet claiming her team had sold.
It read: "The 'team' and insiders have actually been selling their token since launch.
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"A majority have never purchased anything and have only sold the tokens they were given.
"Haliey is lying and will likely have to 'talk tuah' judge about this."
December 16 - Memecoin platform speaks out
OverHere - the official platform for Welch's $HAWK token - issued a statement about the matter.
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The team revealed the so-called 'truth' about what happened.
On the memecoin, they said: "Hailey Welch—a literal meme—launching a meme coin felt like synchronicity.
"Our goal was simple: bring Web2 fans into Web3 seamlessly. A way to bring Web2 into crypto through culture, not just speculation."
As to how things unravelled, overHere says that 'community sentiment shifted'.
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"As desperation kicked in, participation conditions were progressively watered down," the team said.
"What started with plans for a lock-up eventually ended with none."
It went on to place blame on an individual who goes by Doc Hollywood, who apparently 'controlled all token decisions, fees, treasury'.
Then, overHere further insisted that it made zero revenue from the whole debacle and that Doc Hollywood allegedly charged 15 percent trading fees.
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These allegations were denied by Alexander Larson Shultz, the team member nicknamed 'Doc Hollywood', as reported by IBT.
December 19 - Welch's memecoin team is sued
A document filed to court on Wednesday says that, in part, the lawsuit 'arises from the unlawful promotion and sale of the Hawk Tuah cryptocurrency memecoin, known as the "$HAWK" token (the "Token" or "$HAWK"), which Defendants offered and sold to the public without proper registration'.
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Tuah The Moon Foundation, which oversaw the memecoin's finances, OverHere Ltd, which created the coin, and Clinton So, executive at OverHere, have all been named in the lawsuit alongside the coin's promoter Alex Larson Schultz.
However, Welch was not named in the complaint which alleges that the defendants used her social media following to market the coin to 'emphasize community engagement, inclusivity, and bridge mainstream culture with the cryptocurrency world'.
December 20 - Welch addresses lawsuit
Welch hoped to assure her fans and anyone who had invested in the cryptocurrency, as she issued a statement: "I take this situation extremely seriously and want to address my fans, the investors who have been affected, and the broader community.
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"I am fully cooperating with and am committed to assisting the legal team representing the individuals impacted, as well as to help uncover the truth, hold the responsible parties accountable, and resolve this matter."
If you have experienced losses related to this, please contact Burwick Law using the link below: https://www.burwick.law/newclient."
Topics: Cryptocurrency, Viral, TikTok
Ellie Kemp