Hawk Tuah memecoin plunges 90% amid controversy

Hawk Tuah (CRYPTO:HAWK), the memecoin launched by influencer Haliey Welch, has faced significant backlash after its value plummeted by 91% just hours post-launch.

The token, which initially surged to a $490 million market cap on December 4, was trading at only $41.7 million within three hours, according to DexScreener data.

The rapid decline followed allegations of insider activities and sniper wallets, with Bubblemaps data revealing that 80%-90% of the token’s supply was controlled by a small group of wallets at launch.

Despite this, Welch denied any wrongdoing, asserting on X that neither she nor her team sold tokens.

“Team hasn’t sold one token and not 1 KOL was given 1 free token,” she added.

The deployment on Meteora, a decentralized liquidity protocol, was intended to mitigate sniper activity through high fees at launch.

Nevertheless, on-chain data from Solana block explorer Solscanner identified one wallet that sniped 17.5% of HAWK’s supply immediately after launch, investing 4,195 Wrapped Solana (WSOL), worth $993,000 at the time.

Over 90 minutes, the wallet sold 135.8 million HAWK tokens for a profit of $1.3 million.

Investor losses have sparked widespread criticism.

One user on X claimed to have lost $43,000, while another reportedly exchanged $1.4 million worth of MOODENG (CRYPTO:MOODENG) tokens into HAWK, losing over $1.3 million.

Legal concerns are mounting as some investors have filed complaints with the SEC.

Law firms, including Burwick Law, are actively seeking affected parties.

“If you lost money on $HAWK, contact our firm to learn about your legal rights,” the firm stated in a post.

The HAWK debacle has reignited debates over transparency and regulation within the memecoin space, highlighting the risks involved in such speculative investments.

At the time of reporting, the Hawk price was $0.00003523.