The Internet is seething after a Solana memecoin based on Hailey Welch, aka Hawk Tuah girl’s viral YouTube street interview, dropped over 90% soon after its launch. According to data from DexScreener cited in The Block, the memecoin HAWK launched by Hailey Welch debuted at around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, November 4, 2024. The coin quickly soared to amass a market capitalization of nearly $500 million before plummeting to around $60 million at the time of writing.
Shortly after, several netizens on social media platforms accused Welch of market manipulation, with many, including, YouTuber Coffezilla, alleging this was a “rug pull” scam. A rug pull refers to a crypto scam where a cryptocurrency or NFT developer promotes a project, such as a new coin, to attract investor funding and shortly shuts down after taking investor assets, leaving said investors or participants with worthless tokens.
After the memecoin value plummeted, Hailey Welch was confronted by Youtuber and investigator Coffezilla in an X live session where accused the influencer of concocting a “rug pull” scam. He said:
"This is one of the most miserable, horrible launches I've ever seen. I've been tracing it on the chain for a while. You guys generated over a million dollars in fees, while your fans got rug pulled.”
Who is Coffezilla, the Youtuber accusing Hawk Tuah girl of a “rug Pull” scheme
YouTuber, Coffezilla whose real name is Stephen Findeisen, started the Cofeezilla channel on August 3, 2018. The channel focuses on exposing scams, including cryptocurrency and NFT (non-fungible token) scams and saving people from being victimized by illegal and fake schemes.
Coffezilla, who graduated with a degree in chemical engineering, has over $3.5 million followers on YouTube. His channel bio reads:
“I uncover scams, fraudsters and fake gurus that are preying on desperate people with deceptive advertising. If you have to ask... it’s probably too good to be true.”
In mid-2024 Logan Paul filed a defamation lawsuit against Coffezilla over his deep dive into Paul's failed CryptoZoo project. The YouTuber claimed Paul purposefully deceived his followers into investing in the failed CryptoZoo project.
Hawk Tuah girl denies rug pull accusation
In the X live session, Coffezilla went on to accuse the Hawk Tuah girl of insider trading. Her team jumped in and denied the allegation. The team said:
“There was a strategic allocation through a foundation.”
When the YouTuber asked how much they made during the pre-sale, the unidentified male answering for Hawk Tuah refused to answer the query asking Coffeezilla to “take a chill pill." The team again denied “rug pull” claims but admitted:
"Snipers sniped it up to an insane market cap and dumped it. That was not us."
Coffezilla refused to buy into the defense accusing Hawk Tuah and her team of profiting millions in the alleged scheme.
Coffezilla also alleged Hawk Tuah of making millions from 17 percent pre-sales before releasing a tiny portion to the public, indicating alleged insider trading was involved.
Blockchain data visualization platform, Bubblemaps, posted a screenshot on X that showed insiders controlling 96% of the total token supply.
Meanwhile, The Block reported Hawk Tuah denied insider trading accusations floating online. Welch wrote on X Wednesday evening:
“Team hasn’t sold one token and not 1 KOL was given 1 free token. We tried to stop snipers as best we could through high [fees] at the start of launch on Meteora — [Fees] have now been dropped.”
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The memecoin’s tokenomics, posted by Hawk Tuah girl Hailey Welch on X, showed only 10% of the supply goes to her and her team. This includes a 12-month lock and a “3-year linear vest.”
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