“This is a cautionary tale for all investors to carefully consider and assess risks before investing in cryptocurrencies.” -Shruti Gurudanti, director of corporate transactions at Rose Law Group
By Yahoo Finance
It was a social media catchphrase, then a merchandising opportunity and, finally, a cryptocurrency.
Now, the social media sensation who lent her viral “hawk tuah” moment to a new digital coin is the face of the latest controversy centered around crypto and what some are calling an all-too-familiar racket meant to trick people out of their money.
Influencer Haliey Welch, who shot to internet stardom this year thanks to a particularly viral interview clip, is pushing back on accusations that “HAWK,” the cryptocurrency she helped launch this week, is a scam after its price plummeted. Welch said on X that she and the people behind the coin have not sold any of their holdings.
The coin’s market capitalization was around $28 million as of Thursday afternoon, down from nearly $500 million when it peaked Wednesday, according to DEX Screener, which monitors the price, trading volume and on-chain trades of various tokens.
YouTuber and crypto journalist Stephen Findeisen, who has amassed millions of followers on social media under the name Coffeezilla, confronted Welch in a live X Space audio conversation Wednesday, titled “The Hawk Truth.” In clips of the conversation, which circulated on X, Welch’s team denied Findeisen’s accusations of “rug pulling,” a term used in the crypto world for projects in which a coin’s creators seek to build hype and drive up a coin’s price only for them to sell their holdings at a profit, which then leaves other investors with devalued tokens after prices drop dramatically.
