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HAWK coin collapse

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HAWK coin collapse
HAWK coin collapse
Image: token logo via CoinGecko / DexScreener listings
dateDecember 4, 2024
blockchainSolana
key figuresHaliey Welch, overHere Limited, Clinton So, Alex Larson Schultz
peak market capabout 490 million dollars
legal statusclass action pending in the Eastern District of New York as of 2026

The December 2024 launch and collapse of the HAWK meme coin fronted by viral personality Haliey Welch, followed by a securities class action and a closed SEC inquiry.

Contents
  1. 1 Launch and crash
  2. 2 Legal aftermath
  3. 3 Significance
  4. 4 References

The HAWK coin collapse was the launch and near immediate crash of HAWK, a Solana meme coin fronted by Haliey Welch, the "Hawk Tuah girl" who had become one of 2024's biggest viral celebrities. Launched on the evening of December 4, 2024, the token reached a market capitalization of roughly 490 million dollars and then fell more than 90 percent within hours. The episode became the defining celebrity coin disaster of the cycle and a test case for whether anyone can be held liable when a meme coin fails.

Launch and crash

Welch, whose crude turn of phrase in a street interview had made her a mainstream celebrity, had spent late 2024 building a media brand including a successful podcast. HAWK launched with a presale run by Hong Kong firm overHere Limited and promotion across Welch's channels. Within hours of the December 4 launch the price collapsed from its peak near 490 million dollars to a few tens of millions. On chain observers, including the investigator Coffeezilla, who confronted the team during a launch night livestream, alleged that a large share of supply was concentrated in sniper and presale wallets that sold immediately; the team denied selling, saying fees and locked allocations had been misread. Forbes described the launch as chaotic and noted Welch was widely criticized, while defenders argued she was a hired face rather than an operator.

On December 19, 2024, buyers represented by Burwick Law and Wolf Popper LLP filed a class action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, alleging HAWK was sold as an unregistered security. The initial complaint named overHere Limited, its founder Clinton So, and the Cayman Islands entity Tuah The Moon Foundation, but not Welch herself; CoinDesk reported at the time that Welch was "fully cooperating" with the plaintiffs' lawyers. The amended complaint later expanded to name Alex Larson Schultz (known as Doc Hollywood), Memetic Labs LLC, Meteora and its founder Benjamin Chow, Welch's manager Johnnie Forster, her company 16 Minutes LLC, and eventually Welch herself, a turn Decrypt noted came after her cooperation with the same firm. The case remained pending as of 2026, with no final judgment reported.

In March 2025 Welch's representatives said the United States Securities and Exchange Commission had closed its inquiry into her role without charges or sanctions; reporting noted she had received a fixed fee for lending her likeness with no guarantee of further profits. In May 2025 Welch told interviewers the FBI had visited her grandmother's house after the collapse and that she had handed over her devices, describing herself as blindsided by the token's mechanics.

Significance

Arriving six months after the celebrity coin wave and weeks before the trump coin launch, HAWK crystallized the era's celebrity coin economics: a fee for the face, concentrated supply at launch, and losses distributed to fans. Within the trenches the phrase "hawk tuah'd" briefly served as a verb for being dumped on by a celebrity launch, and the Coffeezilla confrontation became one of the most replayed clips of the cycle.

References

Category: Events