Hawk tuah girl cryptocurrency lawsuit
But earlier this month, disaster struck when Welch released $HAWK, a cryptocurrency based on her valuable personal brand. Such crypto assets, known as “meme coins,” are known as volatile investments, and tend to trade according to the boom-and-bust cycles of the online phenomena that inspire them betmgm casino online review. Welch’s coin, developed by partners running a foundation out of the Cayman Islands, spiked in value when it debuted only to crater within hours, plummeting more than 90 percent from a market cap of nearly $500 million to under $30 million.
Welch and her partners — Alex Larson Schultz, who goes by “Doc Hollywood” online, and Clinton So, whose platform overHere made the $HAWK offering — held an audio Spaces event on X (formerly Twitter) that night, trying to counter allegations of a scam. They faced tough questions from investors in the crypto scene and Stephen Findeisen, the YouTuber renowned for investigating crypto fraud under the handle Coffeezilla. Welch herself was almost completely silent for the hour-long conversation as Schultz and So repeatedly denied coordinating a pump-and-dump or “rug pull” scheme in which a cluster of wallets that originally held the vast majority of the overhyped $HAWK unloaded it in a coordinated fashion, leaving other investors with a worthless asset.
A memecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that is typically launched on the back of a popular internet meme or recurring joke. Welch is not named as a defendant in the case, which was launched in federal court in the eastern district of New York.
Hawk tuah girl cryptocurrency
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has closed its investigation into Hailey Welch, known as the “Hawk Tuah Girl,” without pressing charges or imposing sanctions related to the $HAWK token collapse.
Meme coins typically trade based on marketing and hype rather than underlying utility or technology. The SEC advised last month that it doesn’t generally view meme coins as securities, suggesting they may not fall under its regulatory authority.
This has led some, including YouTube cryptocurrency investigator Coffeezilla, to accuse Ms Welch of scamming investors with a “pump and dump” – where the people behind a coin hype up its price before launch, then sell it for profit.
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Welch, who became an internet sensation in mid-2024 after a viral street interview about bedroom techniques, had been under investigation following the dramatic rise and fall of the meme cryptocurrency associated with her persona.
Cryptocurrency news
That decision followed her veto of Senate Bill 1025 — the more ambitious “Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act” — on May 3. It would have authorized up to 10% of the state’s treasury and retirement funds to be invested in Bitcoin and other digital assets.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed two key cryptocurrency-related bills that aimed to expand the state’s involvement in digital assets while signing a strict regulatory measure targeting Bitcoin ATMs.
Today in crypto, Twenty One Capital had a $458.7 million worth of Bitcoin injection from Tether, VanEck is launching its first tokenized fund backed by US Treasurys, and Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has vetoed bills aimed at creating a state Bitcoin reserve and enabling crypto payments.
Stablecoin issuer Tether bought $458.7 million worth of Bitcoin for Twenty One Capital on May 13, a Bitcoin investment firm it backed that’s working on a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) merger with Cantor Equity Partners.
VanEck joins a burgeoning field of traditional financial firms that have launched RWA tokenized funds, with competitors including BlackRock and Franklin Templeton. In January, Apollo, an investment firm with $751 billion in assets under management, also launched a private credit tokenized fund.
Its Bitcoin holdings are the third-largest among public companies, trailing only Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy and Bitcoin mining firm MARA Holdings at 568,840 Bitcoin and 48,237 Bitcoin, respectively.