As the world reacts to the tragic murder of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the incident has triggered a wave of meme cryptocurrencies linked to the media personality.
Within hours of the shooting at Utah Valley University, where a sniper’s bullet fatally struck Kirk, developers began deploying a series of meme coins tied directly to his name and image, most of them supposedly calling for justice over his killing.
The most prominent of these is the Justice For Charlie (CHARLIE) token, which has already generated extraordinary trading volumes.
Data from decentralized exchanges (DEX) shows the Solana (SOL)-based meme coin surging to a peak of $0.0136 before retreating to $0.00886 at the time of writing.
The token initially reached a $12.4 million market cap with $93 million in volume, but a sell-off reduced its liquidity to $1.48 million. More than 36,500 traders participated, though net buys turned negative at -$45,700.
At the same time, listings on BingX and other exchanges quickly followed, with activity spiking as traders rushed in to profit.
At the same time, major crypto influencers booked profits worth hundreds of thousands of dollars within hours of launch.
CHARLIE shows signs of a pump and dump scheme
Additionally, analysts tracking blockchain activity have flagged large insider sales from wallets linked to the Justice For Charlie contract, alongside the creation of more than 700 new addresses designed to inflate demand and make it appear larger than it actually is.
Several crypto players have described these patterns as classic pump-and-dump schemes.
Notably, supporters opine that the coins serve as a digital memorial, entailing solidarity with Kirk’s family and a call for justice. They frame trading activity not merely as speculation but as participation in a movement.
However, critics argue that the coins mainly launched on the Solana blockchain are an opportunistic profiting from grief, where Kirk’s death has been reduced to a ticker symbol and a means for making money.
At his death, Kirk, 31, was also a Bitcoin (BTC) advocate and was mourned across the political spectrum after his killing, which was condemned as political violence.
Featured image via Shutterstock
