UPDATE: Dec. 20, 2024, 11:10 a.m. EST Less than 24 hours after Mashable published this story, Hailey Welch has broken her silence with a statement on the failed $HAWK memecoin.
Read our latest story on Welch's statement.
Mashable's original report continues below.
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Haliey Welch has gone MIA.
The "Hawk Tuah" girl has not released a new episode of her popular weekly podcast, Talk Tuah, in two weeks. There was no previously announced hiatus of the show. Welch also has not posted on her social media channels in weeks either.
Welch became a viral sensation over the summer after dropping what would go on to become her catchphrase "Hawk Tuah" in a video clip that spread across the internet like wildfire. Welch capitalized on her internet fame by selling merchandise like t-shirts and then eventually launching a weekly podcast called Talk Tuah, which rocketed to the top of the Spotify podcast charts.
Everything appeared to be coming up roses for Welch. And then she launched her own cryptocurrency. She hasn't been heard from by the public since.
'Anywho, I'm gonna go to bed'
On Dec. 4, Welch announced that her Hawk Tuah memecoin, $HAWK, had gone live. The memecoin exploded in value, with a market cap in the hundreds of millions of dollars – before quickly collapsing. Many who bought $HAWK had lost a significant sum of money in a matter of minutes.
Welch's fans who had invested started to blame those directly involved in the project. Investigations into the memecoin found that the vast majority of the tokens were held by just a few wallets, with those that had invested claiming that insiders received pre-launch access to the cryptocurrency before it went on sale to the public. After it launched, some said, those insiders dumped $HAWK for a profit, leaving Welch's fans holding the bag.
Welch and OverHere, the crypto team she partnered with, held a public Spaces stream on X, formerly known as Twitter. During the live audio chat, Welch and her partners were heavily criticized by listeners, including the popular YouTube crypto scam investigator Coffeezilla.
Before $HAWK holders could get any real answers about why $HAWK had crashed, Welch interrupted the stream.
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"Hey guys!" Welch said on the late night Dec. 5 stream. "I hate to interrupt you, Nick, but hello there. Anywho, I'm gonna go to bed and I'll see you guys tomorrow."
And that was the last the public has heard from Welch since.
Not the end for the Hawk Tuah coin saga
While Welch has yet to make a statement, her partners at OverHere have recently attempted to address the situation. The group placed the blame on Alex Larson Schultz, also known as Doc Hollywood, who OverHere claims "'controlled all token decisions, fees, treasury." Schultz is a music producer, DJ, and crypto promoter who is best known to the public as comedian Howie Mandel's son-in-law.
Schultz has yet to comment on OverHere's statement. Mashable attempted to reach out to Welch but has yet to hear back.
The Talk Tuah podcast was launched on Sept. 3 and has released a new episode every week since. The last episode of Talk Tuah was released on Dec. 3, one day before the launch of $HAWK.
Welch also has not posted on social media since the failed cryptocurrency launch on Dec. 4.
However, we may hear from Welch or at least other members of her $HAWK team soon. Hawk Tuah memecoin investors filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the creators of $HAWK, alleging that they had unlawfully sold unregistered securities.
Topics Cryptocurrency Memes
