- Haliey Welch has received negative reactions in recent days after the release of $HAWK
- The value of the meme coin plummeted 91 percent just hours after it fell last week.
Australian rugby league legend Phil Gould appears to have attacked people who invested in Hawk Tuah star Haliey Welch’s crypto scheme after the meme token venture left some fans feeling let down.
The viral sensation, who became famous on the internet for the ‘Hawk Tuah’ meme this year, found herself in hot water with some online, after the 22-year-old launched her own crypto meme coin, called $HAWK, on Wednesday from last week.
A meme coin is an Internet currency inspired by a viral Internet meme. The online currency initially started as a joke and was used for entertainment purposes.
But meme coins have become more popular in recent years, with tokens such as Dogecoin and a MAGA coin, inspired by US President-elect Donald Trump, becoming very popular.
The cryptocurrency peaked with a market capitalization of 315.8 million Australian dollars (490 million US dollars).
But just three hours later, the currency had plummeted 91 percent and was trading at a value of 64.79 million Australian dollars (41.7 million US dollars), according to CoinTelegraph.
Football great Phil Gould has weighed in on Hawk Tuah star Haliey Welch’s recent meme coin release.
The viral sensation has come under fire after the cryptocurrency, called $HAWK, fell 91 percent just hours after its launch on Wednesday last week.
The 22-year-old has since been accused of defrauding investors.
Some, including YouTube cryptocurrency researcher Coffeezilla, have claimed that a “pump and dump” had occurred. This is where those behind the coin increase its price before launch and sell it for a profit.
But she insisted in an interview with Fortune that the company “wasn’t just about cash.”
There is no allegation of wrongdoing by Daily Mail Australia.
Meanwhile, Gould turned to X to express his opinion on the situation.
The Canterbury CEO wrote: ‘So people invested in a meme launched by this Hawk Tuah girl?…
‘And it went wrong?…
‘Who could imagine it coming?’
Rugby league legend Gould took to X to write: “Who could see it coming?”
Welch rose to internet stardom earlier this year after she went viral for her ‘Hawk Tuah’ meme.
His comments came in relation to a thread on the social media platform that recounted the events that led to the coin’s price drop.
The massive price drop has been largely attributed to crypto snipers. These are entities that carry out quick and precise actions in the market to capitalize on opportunities within the market.
Crypto snipers quickly purchase large proportions of a token’s supply at launch and dump that stock quickly for lucrative profits.
Data from Dexscreener, cited by crypto site Coinspeaker, claimed to show that between 80 and 90 percent of the $HAWK supply was controlled by snipers and insider wallets. One wallet had even taken 17.5 percent of the supply at launch and was able to sell it for a profit of 2.02 million Australian dollars (1.3 million US dollars).
Welch’s team spoke out on social media stating that they had tried to stop the snipers.
‘The team has not sold a single token and no key opinion leaders received a free token. We tried to stop the snipers as best we could with highs (fees) at the start of the launch on @MeteoraAG. Now the rates have been reduced,” they said. Welch later reposted the message on his own X account.
Both Welch and OverHere, the team behind $HAWK, have spoken out about it on social media.
Over here, the team behind $HAWK denied these claims, stating in a separate post: “The Haliey team has sold absolutely no tokens.” Haliey’s team has a 10 percent allocation, which is locked in for one year and vests over three years.
“The rest of the tokens are distributed in the different wallets according to tokenomics.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Welch’s representatives for comment.
Gould, who coached the Panthers and Bulldogs to premierships, recently revealed the Bulldogs’ transfer plans, claiming Ben Hunt and Ryan Papenhuyzen did not fit into the club’s future plans.