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By Shaurya Malwa, Oliver Knight|Edited by Parikshit Mishra
May 21, 2025, 9:48 a.m.
- Haliey Welch, known as “Hawk Tuah Girl,” claims she was cleared by the FBI and SEC regarding the failed HAWK memecoin.
- Welch now distances herself from the project, stating she didn’t understand cryptocurrency despite her initial enthusiasm.
- The HAWK token’s market cap plummeted from $491 million to under $100 million, with current losses estimated at $180K.
Haliey Welch, better known as “Hawk Tuah Girl,” is now distancing herself from last December’s failed HAWK memecoin — despite previously calling it a fully compliant, fan-focused token she was proud to launch.
In a new episode of her Talk Tuah podcast, Welch claimed she was questioned by the FBI and handed over her phone to the SEC, but was ultimately “cleared” of wrongdoing.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
“They went through my phone, so they cleared me. I was good to go,” she said. “I wish we knew then what we know now.” She also dodged direct responsibility, instead framing herself as an unwitting pawn: “I don’t have anything to hide.”
But Welch’s latest comments — claiming she didn’t understand crypto and felt “sick” that fans trusted her — stand in sharp contrast to her original announcement in November 2024.
At the time, Welch said she was “excited to be part of meme culture” and had “learned so much” while working with launch partners to bring $HAWK to life.
The token, which launched on Solana, briefly hit a $491 million market cap before plunging below $100 million in hours. Welch’s team claimed the project was legally compliant and backed by a Cayman foundation, and said her tokens would vest over three years.
She went on to claim that while initially customer losses were estimated to be as high as $1.2 million, the real loss figure stands at $180,000.
However, there are still 10,149 token holders according to Solscan and many of those holders never sold thus losses were never realized. The $180,000 figure does not include those holders.
Commentators on her podcast aren’t buying the story.
“She admits that she didn’t know anything about it but decided to endorse it anyway and promote it?” one YouTube comment read. “You should have never attached yourself to something you didn’t understand,” another said.
HAWK prices are down 99% since its December peak, sitting at a tiny $104,000 market capitalization as of Tuesday morning.
Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis.
Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA.
He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.
Oliver Knight is the co-leader of CoinDesk data tokens and data team. Before joining CoinDesk in 2022 Oliver spent three years as the chief reporter at Coin Rivet. He first started investing in bitcoin in 2013 and spent a period of his career working at a market making firm in the UK. He does not currently have any crypto holdings.
