Footy great Phil Gould weighs in on Hawk Tuah star Haliey Welch’s crypto meme coin disaster: ‘Who could possibly see that coming?’

Aussie Rugby League legend Phil Gould appears to have attacked people investing in Hawk Tuah star Haliey Welch’s crypto scheme after the meme token venture left some fans feeling shortchanged.

The viral sensation, who shot to internet fame this year for the ‘Hawk Tuah’ meme, has landed in hot water with some online after the 22-year-old launched her own crypto meme coin, called $HAWK, on ​​Wednesday last week .

A meme coin is a piece of internet currency inspired by a viral internet meme. The online currency initially started as a joke and was used for entertainment purposes.

But meme coins have become increasingly popular in recent years, with tokens like Dogecoin and a MAGA coin – inspired by newly elected US President – ​​Donald Trump, becoming very popular.

The cryptocurrency peaked at a market capitalization of A$315.8 million (US$490 million).

But just three hours later, the coin had fallen 91 percent and was trading at a value of A$64.79 million (US$41.7 million), according to MuntTelegraaf.

The viral sensation has come under fire after the cryptocurrency, called $HAWK, fell 91 percent just hours after it was launched last Wednesday

The 22-year-old has since been accused of defrauding investors.

Some, including YouTube cryptocurrency researcher Coffeezilla, have claimed that a ‘pump and dump’ had taken place. This is where those behind the coin raise the price before launch and sell it for a profit.

But she insisted in an interview with Fortune that the venture was “not just a money grab.”

There is no allegation of any wrongdoing by Daily Mail Australia.

Gould, meanwhile, went to X to give his opinion on the situation.

The Canterbury general manager wrote: ‘So people have invested in a meme launched by this Hawk Tuah girl?…

‘And it went badly?…

“Who could ever see that coming?”

Rugby legend Gould took to X and wrote: ‘Who could ever see that coming?’

Welch shot to internet fame earlier this year after going viral with her “Hawk Tuah” meme

His comments were in reference to a thread on the social media platform that recounted the events that led to the currency’s price crash.

The massive price drop is largely due to crypto snipers. These are entities that take quick and precise actions in the market to capitalize on opportunities within the market.

Crypto snipers quickly buy up large chunks of a token’s supply at launch and quickly offload that supply to make lucrative profits.

Dexscreener data cited by crypto site Coinspeaker reportedly shows that 80 to 90 percent of $HAWK’s supply was controlled by insider wallets and snipers. One wallet even took 17.5 percent of the supply at launch and was able to sell it for a profit of A$2.02 million (US$1.3 million).

Welch’s team has spoken out on social media, claiming they had tried to prevent snipers.

“Team has not sold one token and not one [key opinion leader] got one free token. We tried to stop snipers as best we could from the heights [fees] at the start of the launch on @MeteoraAG. Compensation has now come down,” they said. Welch then reposted the message to her own X account.

Both Welch and OverHere, the team behind $HAWK, have spoken out about the issue on social media

OverHere, the team behind $HAWK denied these claims, stating in a separate post: “Haliey’s team has sold absolutely no tokens. Haliey’s team has a 10 percent allocation, which is fixed for one year and vested over three years.

“The rest of the tokens will be distributed among the different wallets according to tokenomics.”

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Welch’s representatives for comment.

Gould, who coached the Panthers and Bulldogs to premiership titles, recently blasted the Bulldogs’ transfer plans, claiming Ben Hunt and Ryan Papenhuyzen did not fit into the club’s future plans.