The long-awaited launch of the Hawk Tuak (HAWK) meme token by crypto influencer Haley Welch turned into a flop: the asset first skyrocketed in price, and then fell by 90%. The reason for the failure was accusations that HAWK developers were involved in insider trading and used “sniper” wallets.
HAWK token chart
The HAWK memecoin launched on December 4 and quickly reached a peak market cap of $490 million. The token's price then plummeted by more than 90%, with the total asset value collapsing to $41,7 million.
According to DexScreener data, at launch, 80-90% of the HAWK supply was controlled by insiders and “snipers,” organizations that quickly buy up huge amounts of tokens.
In response to the allegations, Haley Welch wrote that the project team did not sell tokens or give them away for free. In addition, HAWK was launched on the decentralized liquidity protocol Meteora to reduce the risk of hacking.
Despite these assurances, data from the Solscanner platform shows that just seconds after launch, one wallet managed to buy 17,5% of the HAWK supply for 4195 Wrapped Solana (WSOL) worth about $993. After 000 hours, the wallet got rid of 1,5 million HAWK, earning $135,8 million.
Unfortunately, most investors in HAWK lost their money. For example, one of the crypto community members complained that he lost $1,3 million after investing about $1,4 million in MOODENG tokens in the memecoin.
