Hawk Tuah Meme Coin: Criticism Mounts After Abysmal Launch

Those who opted to invest in the latest meme coin are not happy with how Haliey Welch’s own foray into the complications-riddled space has gone.

To be fair, it’s not just presumed investors themselves who are vocally pissed. Coffeezilla, a YouTube personality known for making deep-dive investigational videos on a variety of topics, shared a video to his Voidzilla channel on Thursday titled, “Exposing the Hawk Tuah Scam.”

In it, he noted that his efforts to confront those behind the coin regarding his concerns “didn’t go very well” during the prior evening’s X Spaces conversation.

At one point in the video, an alleged screenshot of a message from a legal rep for Welch is shown, reading, “This was not a speculative opportunity for her. She truly didn’t intend to fleece fans.” Coffeezilla also points out that it’s not entirely clear just how involved Welch was, exactly, with the launch itself.

As for that aforementioned X Spaces session, those behind the coin’s launch were quick to dispute the effort being described as a “rug pull,” even going as far as to liken that description to an attempt at defamation.

Naturally, all of this quickly led to legal speculation on social media. Burwick Law, a firm self-billed as “a leader in digital consumer protection,” wasted no time in getting its name in the mix, sharing a tweet on Wednesday that read, in part, “If you lost money on $HAWK, contact our firm to learn about your legal rights.” The firm is also planning a livestream next week focused on the coin in question.

Since rising to viral fame earlier this year for her ubiquitously memed delivery of “Hawk tuah!” during a Tim & Dee TV interview in the beer-drenched Broadway area of Nashville, Welch has maintained a consistent presence in headlines. Most recently, she joined Caroline Calloway for a one-on-one conversation in Interview magazine, co-founded by the late Andy Warhol, as well as rolled out the latest episode of her Talk Tuah podcast with special guest Brooke Schofield.

Complex has reached out to Welch’s reps for comment. This story may be updated. Meanwhile, social media has been characteristically ablaze with jokes in response to those who got themselves involved in the $HAWKtoversy, like so: