The launch of Hawk Tuah memecoin sparked outrage across social media due to allegations of insider sales. Haliey Welch’s newly launched token briefly rose in value but then plummeted rapidly after a controversial deployment.
At 10:00 pm UTC on Dec. 4, the Hawk Tuak (HAWK) memecoin was launched and quickly gained $490 million in market capitalization. However, its price dropped to $41.7 million within three hours, resulting in a 91% downturn.
Data suggests that between 80%-90% of HAWK’s supply at launch was controlled by insider wallets and snipers — entities that rapidly buy up huge amounts of a token’s supply.
Welch has denied any insider sales or activity on behalf of her team or affiliated entities, stating they had launched the token on decentralized liquidity protocol Meteora to reduce sniping risk. However, one wallet managed to snipe HAWK seconds after launch, purchasing 17.5% of the supply for $993,000.
Some observers warn that Welch and her team could face legal backlash from regulators due to the memecoin’s deployment. Law firms have begun advertising their services to those who lost money on the token, with one firm requesting that anyone who lost money contact them to learn about their legal rights.
Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/hawk-tuah-memecoin-dumps-90-percent-outrage-token-launch-insider