The Hawk Tuah girl is opening up about her cryptocurrency controversy, including how it impacted her boyfriend.
In case you are unaware, the Hawk Tuah girl, Haliey Welch, rose to fame after making a crude joke in a street interview.
Her internet success led to the launch of her Talk Tuah podcast and eventually, her own cryptocurrency, $HAWK.
Welch introduced the memecoin as “a good way to interact with [her] fans,” capitalizing on her growing online influence.
Initially, $HAWK saw a meteoric rise, reaching a market capitalization of $490 million within hours of its launch.
However, just three hours later, the token’s value plummeted by 91%, according to CoinTelegraph, leaving many investors with substantial losses.
The dramatic crash sparked accusations that Welch had engaged in a “rug pull,” a fraudulent scheme where developers abandon a project after raising funds, leaving investors with worthless assets.
Some disgruntled investors took to social media platform X, claiming they had lost their “life savings” and calling for legal action.
On December 19, a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in New York against the creators of $HAWK, The Hollywood Reporter revealed.
The lawsuit names overHere Ltd., its founder Clinton So, social media influencer Alex Larson Schultz, and the Tuah The Moon Foundation, accusing them of unlawfully promoting and selling unregistered cryptocurrency.
Despite her involvement in promoting the token to her 2.6 million Instagram followers and podcast audience, Welch was not listed as a defendant in the case.
Welch returned to the spotlight in a newly surfaced episode of Talk Tuah, featuring FaZe Clan founder Banks. The episode, reportedly leaked on social media, includes Welch addressing her involvement in the crypto scandal.
During the podcast, she was asked about her boyfriend, Kelby Blackwell - known online as “Pookie” - and his reaction to the situation.
"Pookie lost money too," Welch admitted.
"He said, 'How you going to take my money'? He still gives me s*** all the time, he says, 'I wish I had my $300 back.'"
Elsewhere in the episode, Welch reiterated that the project was pitched to her as a “long-term coin” that would “change the way everybody thinks about crypto.”
“And I feel really bad for all the people that got affected by it,” she said. “And it just didn’t go the way I planned.”
She went on to describe her "biggest mistake" as trusting the person behind the deal, whom she referred to as a “friend of a friend.”
“I probably should have looked into him a little bit more,” she admitted.
Welch also revealed that she had concerns on the day of the coin’s launch, recalling that the unnamed individual was acting “a little bit weird,” which made her “suspicious.”
Following the leaked episode, Banks criticized Welch’s management team, accusing them of mishandling the situation.
“These were nonstarters and we were told this episode would only ever see the light of day if we explicitly green lit it,” Banks said.
He also suggested Welch reevaluate her team, stating: “Poor girl, it’s a wonder how she found herself in this position in the first place.”