Developers of Meme Token Hawk Tuah Suspected of Exit Scam

Launched on December 5 with the involvement of meme heroine Hawk Tuah, Haliey Welch, the meme coin HAWK plummeted within an hour of its debut. Users accused the project team of fraud.

There has been a wild amount of fud circulating, let us explain:

The main piece going around @X is the 96% cluster seen on @bubblemaps which shows $HAWK tokens being sent by the deployer address (xxxx), to the related addresses, according to the tokenomics that was published.…

— overHere (@overHere_gg) December 5, 2024

Immediately after the launch, promoted personally by Welch, HAWK reached a market cap of $490 million at a peak price of $0.049. Within the first hour of trading, the token fell to $0.006 and later stabilized at $0.003. At the time of writing, the price stands at $0.0028.

According to the project Bubblemaps, the distribution of 1 billion HAWK after minting was as follows:

• 3% of all tokens were allocated to the Meteora marketplace;
• 17% to early investors as “strategic distribution”;
• 80% to reserve and rewards for the community and team. 

Analysts noted that the mentioned 17% of HAWK issuance for early investors ended up in 285 wallets. Unlike the team’s share, these tokens were not locked, which their holders took advantage of.

1/ We found that 285 investors joined $HAWK presale

• 89 wallets sold 100%
• 47 wallets sold ≥ 50%
• 19 wallets sold < 50%
• 130 wallets sold 0

? Total sold: $3.3M

? ↓https://t.co/b3GpKDoHfG

— Bubblemaps (@bubblemaps) December 5, 2024

In the first minutes of trading, 89 of these addresses sold their entire claim, 47 sold most, 19 sold less than half. 130 wallets refrained from selling.

Analysts calculated that the “early recipients” earned about $3.3 million from selling HAWK.

The project team overHere, responsible for the launch, and Welch herself deny any wrongdoing. They claim everything went according to distribution plans and none of the “insiders” sold a single token.

“Haliey’s team has sold absolutely no tokens. They were allocated 10% with a one-year lock and a three-year vesting. The remaining tokens are distributed across various wallets according to the tokenomics,” explained the token sale organizers on X. 

Users were not convinced, accusing the team of a classic rug pull scheme. 

This is hilarious ?

Pretty sure also, this year or last year the SEC added a provision about “rug pulling”.

Someone is getting fined for this, and if the value lost is high enough, might see jail time.

Too bad she’s not famous enough to get the Wallstreet immunity treatment

— tweeTarded (@notTweeTarded) December 6, 2024

“This is ridiculous. I’m sure that this year or last year the SEC added rules regarding rug pull. Someone will be fined for this, and if the amount is sufficient, they might even face jail time. Too bad [Welch] isn’t famous enough to get the Wall Street immunity treatment,” noted one commentator.

Many reacted to the incident with humor.

pic.twitter.com/jGTULUSk0r

— Badnewsllama | SΞ (@Badnewsllama14) December 5, 2024

Soon after, a community note appeared under the post with explanations:

“The ‘team’ and insiders actually sold their tokens from the start. […] Haliey is lying and will likely have to discuss this with a judge.”

One commentator presented a screenshot of the alleged list of “insider addresses” that sold millions of tokens. 

“Haliey’s Team has sold absolutely no tokens whatsover.”

The Team: pic.twitter.com/pLjq4j0Tad

— Fin (@GamblerFin) December 5, 2024

Analysts at Bubblemaps reported to Decrypt that the HAWK team indeed sold nothing, but influencers and “strategic advisors” flooded the market with tokens, causing the price to crash.

In late November, Australian YouTuber and professional Fortnite player known as SerpentAU was caught in a $3.5 million meme coin scam.