Influencer Hailey Welch is MIA, her coin is DOA, and investors are ready to throw punches—but not before Googling, “Hailey Welch dead?”

If you’ve been anywhere near the internet lately, you’ve probably seen the name Hailey Welch trending for all the wrong reasons. Once celebrated as the “Hawk Tuah Girl”—the face of a meme coin that promised absurd profits—Welch has gone radio silent. Her disappearance has sparked a wave of Google searches for “Hailey Welch dead,” adding a dark twist to an already murky situation.

Spoiler alert: There’s nothing to suggest she isn’t alive and kicking, but her meme coin and credibility are certainly lifeless.

Hailey Welch—From Promoter to Pariah

Welch’s rise as a crypto influencer was meteoric. Backed by flashy videos, viral memes, and enough buzzwords to fill a white paper Whitepaper A whitepaper is defined as a pitch or persuasive, authoritative, and often in-depth report on a specific topic that presents a problem along with a respective solution. Marketers rely on whitepapers for a variety of reasons, most simply to educate an audience about a particular issue or to promote a particular methodology. In the cryptocurrency world, a whitepaper is a document that should contain all of the information about the technology that was used to build a cryptocurrency network, and ho A whitepaper is defined as a pitch or persuasive, authoritative, and often in-depth report on a specific topic that presents a problem along with a respective solution. Marketers rely on whitepapers for a variety of reasons, most simply to educate an audience about a particular issue or to promote a particular methodology. In the cryptocurrency world, a whitepaper is a document that should contain all of the information about the technology that was used to build a cryptocurrency network, and ho Read this Term, Welch and her “Hawk Tuah” coin promised investors they’d “soar to financial freedom.” It was all backed up by a charismatic pitch, which drew in thousands of hopeful buyers.

UPDATE: Hailey Welch has officially been asleep for 300 HOURS. pic.twitter.com/F23TnnO2uU

— shah (@shahh) December 18, 2024

Then came the crash. Hawk Tuah’s value plummeted faster than Hailey Welch’s social media updates, leaving a trail of angry investors and shattered dreams. Now, Welch’s accounts are inactive, and her digital footprints have all but disappeared. If you’d like to read more about it, it’s all here.

Investors Sue Over a Crypto Caper

Adding to the chaos, Bloomberg Law reports that disgruntled investors have filed lawsuits against Welch and her promotional partners. The lawsuits claim that Hawk Tuah was an unregistered security, sold under the guise of harmless fun. The promoters allegedly knew the coin was destined for disaster but pocketed hefty fees for their endorsements. Other outlets paint an even bleaker picture, revealing a shadowy network of backers pulling the strings behind Welch’s public persona. These aren’t your typical crypto cowboys; they’re an organized group that might make even FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried blush.

The suit, filed in the first US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, named Tuah The Moon Foundation; overHere Ltd which launched the coin, its founder Clinton So, and social media influencer Alex Larson Schultz, also known as Doc Hollywood, as defendants.

1/ The Truth: We Only Built Airdrop Tech for Web2 Fans, for Free

We saw $HAWK as the perfect use case for our startup’s idea:

to bring airdrops to web2.

Hailey Welch—a literal meme—launching a meme coin felt like synchronicity.

Our goal was simple: bring Web2 fans into Web3…

— overHere (@overHere_gg) December 16, 2024

Keep up with the drama.

The Meme Coin That Wasn’t

Hawk Tuah wasn’t just a meme coin—it was a cautionary tale wrapped in a flashy marketing Marketing Marketing is defined as the business process of identifying, anticipating and satisfying customers' needs and wants.This is a crucial element of any operation or brokerage in the financial services space. Well-funded marketing campaigns are instrumental to the survival and longevity of these companies in an increasingly competitive industry.Within the forex space, marketers perform a wide range of functions to help procure, secure, or retain clients.In particular, newer forex brokers also have t Marketing is defined as the business process of identifying, anticipating and satisfying customers' needs and wants.This is a crucial element of any operation or brokerage in the financial services space. Well-funded marketing campaigns are instrumental to the survival and longevity of these companies in an increasingly competitive industry.Within the forex space, marketers perform a wide range of functions to help procure, secure, or retain clients.In particular, newer forex brokers also have t Read this Term campaign. Investors were lured by promises of exclusivity, early access perks, and absurd “moonshot” profits. Instead, they got a worthless token and a pile of legal fees. At this point, according to Bloomberg, the SEC might get involved, potentially adding Welch’s name to a growing list of influencers who underestimated the law’s long reach.

Hailey Welch Dead? No, But Her Crypto Dreams Are

The popularity of the term “Hailey Welch dead” might be more than a little dark, but it’s a fitting metaphor for her career. Welch’s disappearing act has left investors demanding answers and skeptics laughing at the absurdity of it all. While her coin’s slogan was about soaring to financial freedom, the only thing flying high now is Google’s search volume for her name. Whether she resurfaces or stays in hiding, Welch’s story serves as a glaring reminder: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

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