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Topics: Cryptocurrency, Hawk Tuah girl, Money, US News, Viral, Social Media
Olivia Burke
Topics: Cryptocurrency, Hawk Tuah girl, Money, US News, Viral, Social Media
One minute you're going viral for 'spitting on that thang', the next you're at the centre of a cryptocurrency scandal.
Well, if you're Haliey Welch, that is.
The 22-year-old, better known as 'Hawk Tuah Girl', seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth after news of alleged transgressions with the '$HAWK token' broke.
She has since resurfaced to discuss her side of the complicated story, but a lot of people are still left baffled about what's gone down.
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Welch earned the nickname 'Hawk Tuah Girl' after that video of her went viral shortly after it was uploaded in July last year.
It's been a crazy few months since then - seeing the social media star launch a merch line, quit her day job and even sing on stage with country music stars.
Following the online success of her street interview, she also launched her podcast Talk Tuah with Haliey Welch.
Welch then went on to branch out into crypto, fronting a coin dubbed the '$HAWK token'.
It became available on 4 December - and although it's value initially shot up, it soon came crashing back down.
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Despite soaring to value of $490 million (£384 million), it's worth nosedived dramatically just hours later - flopping by more than 90 percent, according to CoinTelegraph.
Welch was accused of endorsing a 'pump and dump' scheme by frustrated fans, which refers to people hyping up a coin to increase its value, only to then sell it quickly for profit.
Those who invested in the $HAWK token collectively lost millions, seeing buyers launch legal proceedings against the coin’s creators in the US.
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A federal lawsuit was been filed by Burwick Law on the behalf of 12 claimants against the firm overHere Ltd and it's founder Clinton So.
Social media influencer Alex Larson Schultz and the Tuah The Moon Foundation were also named in the lawsuit.
It accuses them of unlawfully promoting and selling cryptocurrency, which was was allegedly never properly registered.
After appearing to go underground for several weeks, Welch has now addressed the scandal.
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Well, sort of - as according to FaZe Clan’s founder Banks, he didn't agree to the footage of his appearance on Talk Tuah being released.
But that's a whole different issue. Anyway, Welch claimed that the $HAWK token had been presented to her as a 'long-term coin', which would ‘change the way everybody thinks about crypto’.
She said: "I feel really bad for all the people that got affected by it. And it just didn’t go the way I planned."
Welch went onto say she was kicking herself for trusting a person who was a 'friend of a friend' to get involved with the coin, describing it as her 'biggest mistake'.
"I probably should have looked into him a little bit more," she added, before alleging that she was left 'suspicious' on $HAWK token's launch day as the guy was a 'little bit weird', the viral star went on to say
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Although it plays on her phrase which went viral, Welch only fronted the $HAWK token.
The podcaster was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, but still faced a host of online backlash for it.
However, the legal complaint did allege that those accused used Welch's large social media following to help market the coin.
It claims that the defendants did this to 'emphasise community engagement, inclusivity, and bridge mainstream culture with the cryptocurrency world'.
According to The Sun, the complaint also states: "The rapid decline in the Token’s value caused substantial damages to investors who relied on Welch’s participation and the project’s stated roadmap."
LADbible Group has previously contacted Welch’s reps for comment.