3 weeks ago
Haliey Welch, a viral net property known arsenic the Hawk Tuah Girl, finds herself embroiled successful contention pursuing the motorboat of her memecoin HAWK connected the Solana blockchain.
The token’s accelerated emergence and autumn person drawn crisp disapproval from the crypto community, with accusations of unethical practices that could pull regulatory attraction.
HAWK memecoin
On Dec. 4, the memecoin debuted connected the Solana blockchain to overmuch acclaim and, successful a substance of minutes, surged to a $500 cardinal marketplace cap, lone to nosedive to arsenic debased arsenic $60 cardinal soon after.
This volatile show near galore investors fuming arsenic speculation grew that the token mightiness person been designed for a pump-and-dump scheme—a maneuver successful which malicious developers nett from artificially inflated prices earlier abandoning the project.
Blockchain investigation from Bubblemaps showed further concerning details astir HAWK’s launch. According to the firm, astir 96% of the token’s proviso was reportedly controlled by insider wallets. Such concentrated holdings are often associated with marketplace manipulation, further fueling skepticism astir the token’s legitimacy.
In an X Spaces hosted by the project’s team, on-chain researcher Coffeezilla slammed Welch and her squad for insider trading. He stated:
“You guys generated implicit a cardinal dollars successful fees, portion your fans got rug pulled. There were snipers, but determination was besides insider trading straight linked to your creator accounts.”
The HAWK concern was reminiscent of earlier personage token launches connected Solana that failed. Earlier this year, aggregate artists and influencers issued tokens during a little trend, but galore of these assets mislaid astir each their worth wrong hours and days.
Critics reason that the HAWK token has followed a akin trajectory, highlighting the risks of investing successful unproven celebrity-endorsed tokens.
Legal fallout
The token’s illness has triggered outrage crossed societal media, with immoderate users reporting the incidental to regulatory authorities.
Meanwhile, respective investors assertion to person filed complaints with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), portion instrumentality firms connection ineligible enactment to those who incurred losses. One firm, Burwick Law, publically encouraged affected parties to travel guardant and research their options for recourse.
Adding to the uproar, crypto assemblage members created a satirical token called “Straight Tuah Prison,” insinuating that Welch should look accountability for the token’s failure. These developments suggest imaginable ineligible challenges for Welch and her squad shortly.
Welch’s response
In her defense, Welch denied immoderate wrongdoing successful a Dec. 5 station connected X (formerly Twitter), stating that her squad had not sold tokens and that nary influential figures had received escaped allocations.
Welch explained that they launched HAWK utilizing Meteora, a decentralized liquidity protocol, to deter snipers. She wrote:
“Team hasn’t sold 1 token and not 1 KOL was fixed 1 escaped token We tried to halt snipers arsenic champion we could done precocious fee’s successful the commencement of launch.”
Over Here, a level collaborating with Welch connected the launch, echoed her statements. They clarified that the tokenomics were designed with transparency and that Welch’s squad sold nary tokens.
They besides noted that her team’s 10% token allocation is locked for 1 twelvemonth and taxable to a three-year vesting schedule.
Despite these assurances, the contention raises questions astir the risks associated with celebrity-endorsed crypto projects.
The station Hawk Tuah Girl claims nary tokens sold arsenic memecoin motorboat sparks crypto assemblage backlash appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.
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