The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University has triggered a rapid creation of speculative memecoins capitalizing on the tragedy. Within hours of the shooting, anonymous developers launched multiple tokens bearing Kirk's name on the Solana blockchain, with one creator generating $299,426 in revenue from a single CHARLIE token.
According to DexScreener data, at least five separate tokens emerged within 13 hours of the incident, including Charlie Cartman (CHARLIE), RIP CHARLIE KIRK (CHARLIE), and Justice For Charlie (KIRK). The most successful token, Charlie Cartman, surged to a $74.9 million market cap within four hours of trading, fueled by over 23,000 transactions and $2.4 million in volume. Another token, Justice for Charlie, reached a $12.4 million market cap with more than 114,000 trades.
The frenzy saw extreme volatility patterns, with one KIRK coin plunging 85% over six hours before rebounding 2,260% in 24 hours. On pump.fun, a token labeled "RIPCharlieKirk" jumped more than 53,000%, reaching a $5 million market cap in under 45 minutes from under $22,000 at launch.
This pattern mirrors previous tragedy-based speculative manias, such as the July launches of OZZY and HULK coins following celebrity deaths, which quickly collapsed after initial spikes. The Justice for Iryna (IRYNA) token, created after the stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in August 2022, briefly spiked to $0.25 before collapsing to $0.000055 by September 11, wiping out nearly all gains.
While some traders framed these tokens as digital tributes, critics condemned the trend as profiteering from tragedy. The assets fundamentally lack utility and typically follow pump-and-dump cycles, leaving retail traders exposed to significant risks as the initial hype fades.
