Haliey Welch, the viral internet personality from Tennessee, has shared an update on her YouTube channel “Talk Tuah with Hailey” concerning the meme coin HAWK. The memecoin was launched in late 2024 by the viral star and her partners at OverHere, but later plunged over 90%, dropping from $490 million to $60 million.
In the YouTube video, Welch offered her first full account of what happened, explaining that she had remained silent for months due to ongoing legal investigations. According to Welch, both the FBI and the SEC became involved shortly after the coin’s launch. She said she was investigated and interrogated but later cleared and not named in any lawsuits.
Welch claimed she was initially introduced to the crypto space by her management, who were approached multiple times with proposals.
Although skeptical at first, she eventually agreed to promote the coin, believing it would be a legitimate opportunity. She said she was promised a marketing fee for promoting the project, not profits from the coin itself, and was also told that a portion of proceeds would support her charity.
Throughout the video, Welch stressed that she did not understand how crypto worked and was not directly involved in running the project. The person managing the coin, whose name she could not legally disclose, allegedly sent her scripts and bullet points to read in videos.
Welch said she simply followed instructions, took selfie videos, and sent them for posting often not even knowing what she was saying. Her Twitter account, which she said she didn’t even have downloaded, was run entirely by the coin’s organizer.
At one point, Welch described being blindsided during a Twitter Spaces livestream when crypto investigator Coffeezilla joined and began asking tough questions. She recalled being fed lines to say and feeling completely unprepared for the confrontation.
Despite promoting the coin, Welch said she never made money from its success and that any payment she received went toward legal fees and crisis PR. She expressed regret that fans lost money and said she felt misled and used—trusting the people behind the coin who, she now believes, didn’t have her best interests at heart.
After the coin collapsed, Welch said she recounted panicked moments like being screamed at in the airport, getting death threats online, and even having the FBI show up at her grandmother’s house. Still, she maintained that she had nothing to hide and cooperated fully with authorities.
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