‘It’s a pure form of gambling’: memecoins boom after Trump election | Cryptocurrencies
It is a parable for the attention economy. A celebrity created entirely by social media, “hawk tuah girl” Haliey Welch, helps launch a crypto asset that stokes a viral frenzy and then flames out.
The Hawk memecoin was worth $490m (£385m) hours after it launched on 4 December but now has a market capitalisation – the value of all Hawk coins in circulation – of $17m.
Welch, a Tennessee native who sprang to fame with her response to a risque interview question earlier this year, was immediately accused of ripping off her social media followers. The crypto commentator Stephen Findeisen, who goes by the moniker Coffeezilla, described the launch as a “rug pull” – the term for when developers hype a crypto scheme for short-term…
