--- title: "Hawk Tuah Girl Says She’s Horrified by What Happened With Her Crypto Launch" description: "The \"Hawk Tuah\" girl is on a redemption tour in the wake of her disastrous crypto project that lost hundreds of millions in minutes." date: "2025-05-06" modified: "2025-05-06" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/hawk-tuah-girl-horrified-crypto" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" tags: - "hawk tuah" - "meme coins" - "scams" - "the digest" --- # Hawk Tuah Girl Says She’s Horrified by What Happened With Her Crypto Launch ![The "Hawk Tuah" girl is on a redemption tour in the wake of her disastrous crypto project that lost hundreds of millions in minutes.]() *\Image: Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu via Getty / Futurism\* ## That Thing Haliey "Hawk Tuah" Welch seems to be on a redemption tour in the wake of her disastrous crypto project. In her first major interview since her $HAWK meme coin imploded last fall, the 22-year-old influencer [told *Vanity Fair*]() — unsurprisingly — that she regrets her role in the scandal. "I hate that that’s even a thing," the "[Talk Tuah]()" podcaster told *VF*. "Half of those people that \[bought\] it were, like, my fans. They trusted me, like, guiding them to it." "It really hurt my feelings when it turned out the way it did," she continued. "I wish it hadn’t have happened." The "thing" Welch is referring to, of course, was the [alleged pump-and-dump scheme]() that saw $HAWK reach an incredible [$490 million market cap]() upon its December 4 launch, only to plummet down to nearly nothing within the hour. After initially defending the [sketchy cabal of crypto characters]() who worked with her on the coin, the "spit on that 'thang'" sensation's only public missives between December and March — a bizarre insistence that "[anywho, I'm going to bed]()" when irked investors were peppering her with questions, and a [pledge to fully cooperate]() with investigators amid a lawsuit from said investors — suggested that she was unaware of the full picture behind her meme coin. ## Lessons Learned In her new interview, Welch was candid about her ignorance surrounding the venture and said she's learned some major lessons from it. "You got to be really careful what you tie your name to, and you definitely need to know what you’re getting yourself into when you agree to do it," the 22-year-old said. "That’s something I definitely should have done beforehand." "I don’t know," she added. "It’s a crazy world we live in." Though [Welch told *TMZ* ]()in late March that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had closed its investigation into the $HAWK coin without pressing any charges against her, it's clear that the specifics of the scandal are still somewhat touchy. During the *VF* interview, her publicist, Amy Sisoyev, stepped in when reporter Chris Murphy asked whether she had intentionally "leaked" an episode of her "Talk Tuah" podcast, then on hiatus, to manipulate markets. "Oh, we can’t speak on that," Sisoyev told *VF*. "I’m sorry." **More on crypto crises**: [*Trump Tells Justice Department to Just Let Crypto Fraud Slide*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()