Shiba Inu lead developer Shytoshi Kusama has publicly addressed the growing controversy surrounding the Hawk Tuah (HAWK) meme coin after its disastrous launch.
In a series of tweets, Kusama detailed his interactions with the Hawk Tuah team and cleared up confusion regarding his involvement with the project. He explained his reasons for rejecting their proposals and distancing himself from the token’s controversial launch.
No Partnership, No Endorsement
Kusama revealed that the Hawk Tuah team approached him months ago to become a Key Opinion Leader (KOL) or influencer for the project. However, he declined the offer, stating that he had more pressing matters to focus on than the HAWK launch.
Despite his rejection, the Hawk Tuah team reached out again days before the launch through a mutual contact. They offered to airdrop millions of HAWK tokens worth $60,000 to the Shiba Inu community.
Yet, Kusama remained unimpressed. Meanwhile, he acknowledged that, due to SHIB’s decentralized nature, the airdrop would proceed regardless of his participation.
While Kusama permitted a retweet from Shiba Inu’s main account to maintain transparency, he reiterated that there was no partnership or formal agreement between Shiba Inu and Hawk Tuah.
Criticism of Hawk Tuah’s Launch
The HAWK meme coin launched on Wednesday, December 4. It hit a peak market cap of $500 million before plummeting 91% within hours. Notably, accusations of insider wallets and sniper activity controlling up to 90% of the token’s supply surfaced, with one wallet allegedly profiting $1.3 million through rapid trading.
Kusama expressed his disappointment with the launch of the HAWK token. He criticized the team for its lack of coordination and immediate pump-and-dump behavior. He also pointed out that, despite claims to the contrary, evidence suggested that insider trading and sniping played a significant role in the token’s price manipulation.
“This is shameful and just like 90% of crap on Solana,” said Kusama, “Do better.”
Shib Army’s Choice
In the wake of the controversy, the HAWK team proposed an airdrop of tokens to Kusama, who would distribute them across 3,000 wallets. Kusama rejected this outright: “I don’t work for you. You work for the army.”
He stressed that if the team wanted to engage with the SHIB community, they needed to follow the proper procedures.
Ultimately, Kusama put the decision in the hands of the SHIB Army, asking the community to decide whether to ignore or burn the airdrop. He has created a poll to this effect, with voting ongoing.
So transparent as ever, I stand before you to decide what to do with…wait let’s see how much it is…approx $60k. To me it’s trash. Up to you all. Let us know what you want in the poll. And if you all choose #1 I can’t promise we will work with them. #ijs
— Shytoshi Kusama™ (@ShytoshiKusama) December 5, 2024
