Coffeezilla, whose real name is Stephen Findeisen, also claimed that Hawk gave “insiders” an advantage.

“Unfortunately, in situations like this, they are not aimed at crypto bros, but mainly at real fans who have never been in the crypto space before,” he said in a video that has been viewed more than 1.4 million times.

He accused Ms Welch’s team of “profiting from a rug pull”.

“These people were unwilling to take any responsibility” for the “Hawk Tuah scam,” he claimed after sharing a clip of him speaking to some of the people behind the cryptocurrency.

Ms. Welch claimed in her post – by charging higher fees on an exchange.

The team behind the cryptocurrency, OverHere, has refuted other claims about the launch in an X post, external.

It emphasized that “Haliey’s team has not sold any tokens at all.”

Meme coins like these are becoming increasingly popular for investors due to their fun and cheap appeal.

They are often considered less risky than better-known crypto assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum, but pose the same dangers – often with no protection for those who lose money with them.

Carol Alexander, a professor of finance at Sussex University, told the BBC on Thursday that while more young people are investing in meme coins, many of them are losing money.

Several celebrities or influencers who have ventured into the crypto market have faced similar backlash.

In 2021, Kim Kardashian was fined $1.26 million by US regulators for failing to disclose that she had been paid to run an ad for a cryptocurrency program called EthereumMax.

Recently, YouTuber Logan Paul was accused of misleading fans by promoting crypto coins or investments without disclosing his own financial interest in them.