NEED TO KNOW
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In a new web series interview, Haliey Welch opened up about the way her December 2024 cryptocurrency scandal impacted her
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The “Hawk Tuah” creator launched the crypto meme coin, $HAWK, on Dec. 4, 2024. It crashed within 24 hours and led to an investigation by the SEC, though Welch was ultimately cleared
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After the fallout, Welch’s Talk Tuah podcast went on a months-long hiatus. She returned to hosting the show in April 2025
Haliey Welch is opening up about her December 2024 cryptocurrency scandal.
On Friday, March 20, the content creator appeared on an episode of Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan to discuss her life in the public eye. Welch, 23, entered the spotlight in June 2024, when she coined the raunchy term “Hawk Tuah” in a viral video. A few months later, she started a podcast Talk Tuah, though the show went on hiatus after a bombshell controversy.
On Dec. 4, 2024, Welch launched the crypto meme coin, $HAWK, which crashed within 24 hours. She faced accusations that it was a scam in its wake, followed by a legal entanglement that reportedly didn’t involve the influencer herself.
Haliey Welch
Credit: Haliey Welch/Instagram
The coin’s creators were accused by investors of unlawfully promoting and selling the cryptocurrency that was never properly registered with the Security and Exchanges Commission (SEC) in a lawsuit that doesn’t name Welch, NBC News reported.
At the time, Welch said that she was “fully cooperating” with attorneys who were representing people impacted by the crypto meme coin crash. On March 27, her lawyer James Sallah shared an update with TMZ confirmed that she was cleared.
“The SEC closed the investigation without making any findings against, or seeking any monetary sanctions from, Haliey. Because they did not bring any action against her, there are no restrictions on what she can do in regards to crypto or securities in the future,” he told the outlet.
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During her recent Channel 5 webseries interview, she reflected on what happened and how she became involved in the scandal. On the day the cryptocurrency launched, Welch recalled how she noticed the person who was “operating the coin” acting nervously and “pacing around.”
She said she was working on podcasting that day, but after she finished, she saw more concern from those around her. When she asked what was going on, Welch said she was reassured there was nothing for her to worry about.
“I pull up my TikTok and the next thing I know, oh yep, ‘Haliey Welch is going to jail,'” she explained. “I was like, ‘What did I do? Why am I going to jail?'”
The online personality claimed she was cooperative with the authorities, even sending off her phone “for days” to have it thoroughly searched. Even though she was ultimately cleared, she emphasized how the experience impacted her.
“It’s enough to traumatize you. Like, I wouldn’t come out of the house for months,” said Welch, who added that the crypto scandal was worse than her initial exposure to fame after her appearance in the “Hawk Tuah” video.
“This time, I was starting to get death threats and everything else. People telling me I owe them all this money, and I’m like, ‘I didn’t do this,’ and I’m sitting here and I’m the one getting hit for this,” she claimed. “It’s rough. It’s like one of those things like where if you come out of the house, you put your head down … I don’t wish that on anybody.”
Welch noted, “In my perspective, I’d say that I got talked into doing something that I didn’t know anything about, really. But you got to be really careful what you put your name on.”
Read the original article on People
