'Hawk Tuah' girl Hailey Welch responds to lawsuit after memecoin crash
LOS ANGELES - Hailey Welch, the "Hawk Tuah" girl, is speaking up following days of silence after the memecoin she pushed crashed within hours. Now, several investors in the $HAWK token have sued the people behind the launch.
The $HAWK token is a type of memecoin, or a cryptocurrency that is derived from a popular social media phenomenon. Specifically in this case, $HAWK is capitalizing on Hailey Welch, the so-called "Hawk Tuah" girl, who shot into fame after appearing in a viral TikTok.
According to a lawsuit filed in New York's Eastern District this week, the people behind the launch of the coin — Tuah the Moon Foundation, which collected funds from the sales, and overHere Ltd., which created the coin — illegally promoted and sold the coin without properly registering it. Welch herself was not named in the lawsuit.
When $HAWK launched, the token was worth more than $16 million, and spiked to more than $400 million shortly after, according to court documents. Hours later, the coin's value had dropped more than 90%, and is now essentially worthless. Several investors lost thousands of dollars because of it. In their class action lawsuit, several investors are seeking damages as well as their money back.
Some on social media have been accusing Welch and others of "rug pulling" investors, which is a cryptocurrency scam where creators raise a bunch of money for a coin then abandon the project altogether, scamming investors out of their money. However, the lawsuit filed this week made it a point to mention that those accusations were not part of their claims, just that the token wasn't legally registered.
Shortly after the collapse, Welch and some of the team involved with the coin went on to X Spaces to explain themselves. Midway into the conversation, Welch abruptly left. In the days since, she went silent on social media. That was until Friday.
In a post on X, Welch said she takes the situation "extremely seriously," and that she is "fully cooperating with and am committed to assisting the legal team representing the individuals impacted."