Crypto

Hawk Tuah Girl’s Crypto Fiasco Continues

Published

1 year ago

December 20, 2024

Hawk Tuah Girl’s Crypto Fiasco Continues

Photo: Tayfun Coskun/ Anadolu via Getty Images

Haliey Welch needs to talk tuah lawyer. The viral star, a.k.a. Hawk Tuah Girl, has found herself in hot water after the group behind her meme coin, HAWK, was sued on Thursday for failing to properly register the cryptocurrency as a security. A group of people who invested in the coin — which soared to a $490 million market cap before experiencing a 90 percent crash hours later — are suing overHere Ltd. founder Clinton So and his company, the Tuah the Moon Foundation, and influencer Alex Larson Schultz for damages in excess of $151,000. Welch herself is not named in the suit.

However, just because she’s not named as a defendant does not free her from this mess. Welch’s name is all over the complaint, and attorneys for the plaintiffs argue that her involvement put their clients under the impression that HAWK was a registered security. “Many of the investors were first-time cryptocurrency participants drawn to the project through Welch’s involvement,” the complaint reads. “The rapid decline in the Token’s value caused substantial damages to investors who relied on Welch’s participation and the project’s stated roadmap.”

In a statement shared to X, Welch said, “I take this situation extremely seriously and want to address my fans, the investors who have been affected, and the broader community.” She added, “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.”

A spokesperson for overHere, the web3 company that launched and promoted HAWK, told Bloomberg that the company had done nothing wrong. “We have been extremely transparent about the limited scope and extent of our involvement in the Hawk Tuah token project. We are confident that we have done nothing wrong,” they said.

This saga should probably serve as a warning to all future viral celebrities: Just stick to podcasting.

Related Topics:celebrity crypto cryptocurrency Culture haliey welch hawk tuah lawsuits

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Crypto

Best Cryptocurrency Stocks To Keep An Eye On

Published

4 hours ago

February 17, 2026

Press Room

Galaxy Digital, Bitfarms, and HIVE Digital Technologies are the three Cryptocurrency stocks to watch today, according to MarketBeat’s stock screener tool. “Cryptocurrency stocks” refers to shares of publicly traded companies that derive significant revenue from, provide services to, or hold substan

Crypto

Steak ’n Shake Says Bitcoin Helps Beef Up Sales | PYMNTS.com

Published

16 hours ago

February 17, 2026

Press Room

Steak ’n Shake Says Bitcoin Helps Beef Up Sales | PYMNTS.com

Fast food chain Steak ’n Shake is crediting cryptocurrency for a boost in sales.

“Nine months ago today, Steak n Shake launched its burger-to-Bitcoin transformation when we started accepting bitcoin payments,” the company wrote in a post on X Monday (Feb. 17). “Our same-store sales have risen dramatically ever since.”

Under this system, the post added, bitcoin payments for Steak ’n Shake burgers are placed in a reserve fund used for “Bitcoin bonus pay” for its workers.

The news was flagged in a report by Coindesk, which noted that Steak ’n Shake had earlier this year announced it had added $10 million worth of bitcoin to its corporate treasury, as part of a “self-reinforcing” cycle in which diners pay in bitcoin, sales increase, and crypto revenue is added to the reserve.

The company began accepting bitcoin payments in May of 2025 and initially enjoyed a 10% increase in sales, the report added. Dan Edwards, the company’s chief operating officer, has said the chain saves around 50% when customers pay with crypto.

Coindesk said that the chain in October introduced a bitcoin-themed burger to its menu, donating part of each Bitcoin Meal to open-source bitcoin development.

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The program is an example of the growing use of cryptocurrency as a payment method for everyday purchases.

“The range of goods and services purchasable with cryptocurrency has expanded far beyond the early days of novelty transactions,” PYMNTS wrote last week.

“Today, consumers can use digital assets to book travel, purchase consumer electronics, pay for cloud services, acquire luxury goods, and even settle recurring bills through intermediaries that convert crypto into local currency at the point of sale.”

However, the most important shift might not involve consumers making the decision to pay with crypto, but might come from stablecoin cards that let users hold value outside banks while spending within the card ecosystem.

“The competition around these products is less about retail payments themselves and more about which institutions will control the monetary layer beneath them, as they, in effect, represent a structural decoupling of deposit capture from payment activity,” PYMNTS added.

This situation has placed card networks like Visa and Mastercard, stablecoin issuers such as Circle and Paxos, and FinTechs, exchanges and wallets in a “three-sided race.”

Card companies are scrambling to weave stablecoins into their rails “before disintermediation risk materializes,” the report said, while the stablecoin issuers are seeking “to become the monetary layer those networks must carry.”

FinTechs, exchanges and wallets, meanwhile, are battling for customer ownership and program issuance.

Crypto

Three people arrested for siphoning cryptocurrency worth Rs 19 crore from Hyderabad trader | Hyderabad News – The Times of India

Published

1 day ago

February 16, 2026

Press Room

Hyderabad: Cybercrime police arrested three people for allegedly siphoning off cryptocurrency worth over Rs 19 crore from a city-based crypto trader, through a phishing website.Police said that two of the accused — Srikanth Bairoju from Shamshabad and Sushim Sripati Gaikwad from Pune — posed as crypto buyers and approached the victim, a 44-year-old from Kalyan Nagar in Madhura Nagar, in the last week of Jan. They convinced him to log on to a website, Trontag.org, under the pretext of completing KYC verification for his crypto wallet.“Once the victim complied with the process, a malicious smart contract got triggered allowing cryptocurrency transfer from his wallet to that of the fraudsters. Subsequently, the victim transferred 2,104,089 USDT (worth over Rs 19 crore approx.) from his wallet to that of the accused,” said S Naresh, cybercrime inspector.The victim realised that he was cheated when the fraudsters went incommunicado after the transfer was complete. Following a complaint, police registered a case on Feb 3 under relevant sections of the BNS and the IT Act, and launched a probe.They traced the digital footprints of the gang that led them to the main accused. Police arrested Bairoju and Gaikwad from Hyderabad and Pune respectively, on Feb 15. A third accused, Lucky Choudhary, who was the duo’s associate and allegedly created the fraudulent website, was arrested from Jaipur. Police seized four mobile phones and two laptops, used in the fraud, from the accused.“A few more accused involved in the crime are on the run. Our team has launched a manhunt to nab them. We are also contacting the cryptocurrency companies linked to the fraud to try and recover the defrauded amount,” said V Aravind Babu, DCP, cybercrime. Police, meanwhile, advised crypto traders to avoid unverified links, enable two-factor authentication and independently confirm KYC requirements with official platforms.