Hailey Welch, the net social media influencer, popularly referred to as the “Hawk Tuah woman,” stated that the implosion of the “HAWK” memecoin, which she promoted in 2024, and the following social backlash “traumatized” her.
“I obtained talked into doing one thing that I did not know something about, actually, however you have to be actually cautious what you set your identify on,” Welsh informed Andrew Callaghan of the Channel 5 YouTube channel on Friday.
Welsh stated she absolutely 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 traders at about $200,000.
Regardless of this, Welsh stated she acquired demise 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 demise threats and the whole lot else. Folks 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 kind of issues the place if you happen to come out of the home, you set your head down.”
Nonetheless, not everybody was satisfied by Welsh’s feedback. “Nobody ought to really feel unhealthy for the ‘trauma,’” onchain sleuth ZachXBT stated.
“She begins posting about meme cash. The whole thing 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 dropping 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 stay.
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 in opposition to the crew and entities that created and managed the memecoin launch, however not Welsh, alleging that the entities offered unregistered securities.
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