In the wake of the cryptocurrency scandal, Haliey Welch, also known as "Hawk Tuah Girl", has seemingly disappeared from the map. Now she's opening up about what really happened.

Changes in the value of the token

The trouble started when Ms Welch, who rose to fame after a viral interview on the street last summer, announced at the end of last year that she would release her own cryptocurrency, memecoin, called $HAWK. 

The token was heavily promoted and its market value quickly rose to $490 million after its launch on 4 December. However, within just 20 minutes, its value plummeted to $50 million. In less than 20 minutes, the price of the coin plummeted to USD 1.5 billion.

Now, more than two months later, we finally have Mr Welch's explanation of what really happened.

What really happened?

In an episode of Talk Tuah with Richard Bengtson, founder of the e-sports brand FaZe Clan, she reported that she had been offered the idea of $HAWK as a long-term token.

She said that a friend of a friend came up with the idea. Ms Welch, who knew little about cryptocurrencies, fell for his plan - which, she said, turned out to be her biggest mistake.

Ms Welch also recalled that her friend's friend had acted a little strangely on the day of the token launch.

At the time of the launch, only 3% of the token supply was made available for trading, while 17% was for pre-sale to investors. These early investors collectively raised €2.8 million for their share. However, two thirds of them quickly cashed out and sold their shares to make an immediate profit.

"I am very sorry for all the people affected. It just didn't work out the way I planned," Welch said through tears.

Actions of the Welch team

At the time of the scandal, Mr Bengtson called on Mr Welch to sack his team, calling the chip a blatant fraud. Now he is calling for the same thing again, but for a very different reason.

He posted a message on the X network revealing that he had agreed to appear as a special guest on Welch's comeback episode under strict conditions, including "not to allow the markets to be manipulated by leaking information about the existence of this episode until a solution has been found" and "to find a real solution to the money earned, where it should go, and what should be done next with the $HAWK project".

However, according to Bengtson, someone on Welch's team leaked or used non-public information about the token, so he decided to cancel the episode immediately. 

However, it "unexpectedly" appeared in the public domain. Although the recording was quickly removed, Bengtson wrote that the price of $HAWK was going up, and that they had again completely ruined the situation.

He also once again called on Ms Welch to sack her team, adding: "Poor girl - I wonder how she got into this situation in the first place."