The woman known as the “Hawk Tuah Girl,” Haliey Welch, is breaking her silence amid allegations she was involved with a crypto scam. 

The internet sensation had been conspicuously absent from social media over the last two weeks after she helped launch a meme coin cryptocurrency, “HAWK,” that surged to a $490 million market cap and then saw its value nosedive and lose 95 percent of its value in just a matter of hours. 

Last week, a lawsuit was filed by investors against the founders of the meme coin, the Tuah The Moon Foundation, overHere Ltd and its founder, Clinton So, and a social media influencer, Alex Larson Schultz. 

Ms. Welch was not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit. However, on Friday, she wrote on X, “I take this situation extremely seriously and want to address my fans, the investors who have been affected, and the broader community. I am fully cooperating with and am committed to assisting the legal team representing the individuals impacted, as well as to help uncover the truth, hold the responsible parties accountable, and resolve this matter.”

Meme coins are cryptocurrencies based on viral memes or internet sensations that are typically created for fanbases’ enjoyment. 

The defendants in the lawsuit are accused of using her fame to whip up interest in the coin. Ms. Welch promoted the meme coin to her followers before the launch. After it launched, the coin’s value skyrocketed to $491 million, but in a matter of hours it cratered. As of Monday, its value is hovering around $2.51 million. 

Representatives for the Tuah The Moon Foundation and the other defendants did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment. 

A crypto journalist, Stephen Findeisen, accused Ms. Welch and the team behind “HAWK” of engaging in a “rug pulling” scheme. In the cryptocurrency industry, the term refers to a plot by a coin’s creators to drive up interest in a coin and then sell their holdings at its peak value. As a result, the creators can make a profit, but people who buy the coin are left with drastically devalued tokens after the sell-off. 

Ms. Welch’s team blamed the drop in value on bots that buy a coin when it launches and then sell it after prices surge, NBC News notes. She also insisted in a post on X earlier this month that her team “hasn’t sold one token.”

Ms. Welch, who went viral after offering a sex-related tip for the bedroom,  has launched several ventures, including the “Talk Tuah” podcast and an AI dating advice and assistant app. 

She has also garnered a following of more than 420,000 on X and roughly 2.6 million on Instagram. However, her social media feeds went silent for two weeks as outrage swirled around the HAWK.” coin. She also declined to release episodes of her “Talk Tuah” show during that period.