Social media influencer Hailey Welch broke her two-month silence to claim she was duped into promoting the disastrous HAWK token, which crashed 91% just hours after its December launch. Breaking down in tears during a February 7 podcast appearance, Welch painted herself as a victim who was sold a dream of changing the crypto industry’s reputation. The community’s dismissive attitudes toward such incidents continue to undermine the sector’s credibility.
The token’s meteoric rise to a $500 million market cap seemed like a fairy tale. Until it wasn’t. Within hours, the price nosedived to a measly $41 million, leaving investors shell-shocked and angry. Welch, who’d been promised the moon – or at least $325,000 and a locked 10% allocation – vanished from the internet faster than the token’s value. Like many meme coins, HAWK’s value was largely driven by social media hype rather than fundamental utility.
HAWK token’s meteoric rise to $500M crashed faster than influencer Welch could delete her social media accounts.
The plot thickens. On-chain data revealed that 80% of HAWK’s supply was controlled by a handful of wallets. Pre-sale buyers dumped their tokens faster than teenagers abandoning last year’s fashion trends. Meanwhile, Welch claims she was just another pawn in the game, supposedly knowing little about the crypto space when token deployers convinced her to launch the project. She admitted that trusting a friend of a friend without proper vetting was a serious mistake.
The aftermath? A lawsuit filed by furious investors on December 19, alleging unlawful promotion and sale of unregistered securities. Welch isn’t named in the suit and is cooperating with legal proceedings. Small consolation for someone who claims she believed half the profits would go to charity.
The drama didn’t end there. FaZe Banks accused the podcast of unauthorized release, while the token price mysteriously pumped 291% around the episode’s air date. Accusations of insider trading and market manipulation flew faster than crypto prices during a bull run.
Welch maintains she was presented with what seemed like a legitimate, long-term project with positive impact. Instead, she got a front-row seat to one of crypto’s most spectacular crashes of 2024.
The lesson? Well, there isn’t one – we’re just reporting the facts of this bizarre saga in the wild west of cryptocurrency.
