The meme coin frenzy triggered by the Charlie Kirk shooting incident: from eating "human blood buns" to "doing charity"?

After the news of Charlie Kirk being shot broke, the crypto assets world quickly saw dozens of Meme coins named after him. A trader named Evan Rademaker, after an initial loss of $17,000, chose to take over one of the projects and transformed it into a community that promised to donate to charities related to Kirk. This story not only reveals how the Meme coin market “parasitizes” the real world’s attention but also reflects the chaos and reshaping of humanity and values behind the high speculation.

A Speculative Carnival Originating from Tragedy

According to Bloomberg, on September 10, when Evan Lademack, an executive at a solar company, heard the news of Charlie Kirk being shot in his office in Florida, the second thing he did was check the Meme coin market. On Pumpfun—a website that allows crypto assets enthusiasts to instantly create and trade Meme coins—he found dozens of tokens related to Kirk emerging rapidly: “Pray For Kirk Coin,” “DEAD KIRK,” and “Charlie Kirk’s dog,” among others. Although many creators claim these tokens are to commemorate Kirk or raise funds for his family, their essence is to turn Kirk's tragedy into profit.

(Source: Bloomberg)

Within an hour of the shooting incident, the market value of a Kirk coin reached $16 million. That evening, the creators of these tokens had already earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in transaction fees on the Solana blockchain. Radmek decided to buy some Kirk coins, spending $30,000 to purchase one token named “RIP Charlie Kirk” ($CHARLIE), but the coin subsequently plummeted, and he sold it at a loss of $17,000. Unwilling to accept this, he bought in again, only to see it drop once more.

The Transition from “Speculator” to “Community Leader”

After experiencing double losses, Radmek saw a glimmer of hope for recouping his investment. He discovered that someone was attempting to launch a community takeover of the “RIP Charlie Kirk” token. When the original creator of a token disappears or loses interest, Pumpfun allows users to take over the project by providing proof of active investor groups, websites, and more. Radmek proactively reached out to the anonymous leader and, leveraging his experience in the Meme coin and NFT community, he created a website for $CHARLIE.

After the takeover was successful, Radamek became the moderator of the community and promised to donate 100% of the creator fees of the token to organizations and charities related to Kirk. To generate fees, they needed to get more people to buy the token, so their focus shifted to promotion.

The Essence of Meme Coins: Parasitic on Attention, Sparing No Effort

Meme coins are the purest form of speculation in Crypto Assets, with their value driven entirely by narrative and followership. For example, in 2024, a hippopotamus named $MOODENG went viral online, causing the price of the token named after it to skyrocket. When the internet-famous squirrel Peanut was euthanized last year, a token named $PNUT surged, currently holding a market cap of up to 250 million dollars.

Maximilian Brichta, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts, stated that he is not surprised by the emergence of the Kirk Meme coin. He explained that the whole meaning of Meme coins lies in their “parasitism on attention”; it doesn't matter how pathological the events are, what their social impact is, or even if they infringe on intellectual property. This is a game about “how to monetize current attention.”

Use Charity to Gain Trust: A Successful PR Show

To enhance the legitimacy of “RIP Charlie Kirk,” the Radmeck team not only promoted it vigorously on social media but also began making donations. They transferred most of the donations to the nonprofit organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founded by Kirk, and publicly disclosed the transaction details on the token website for transparency. A representative from TPUSA quickly responded to Radmeck, thanking them for their generosity and starting discussions about establishing a wallet to directly receive donations on the Solana chain, even considering official collaboration. Radmeck published these communications on X for transparency and hype.

Their community is also facing attacks from competitors, including false accusations that their token has a “rug pull” risk. However, as of now, the token has been renamed to “We Are Charlie Kirk”, has a market cap of about $3 million, and has donated over $100,000, seemingly surpassing most competitors.

Conclusion

The story of Radmeck is a microcosm of the Meme coin world: it showcases how the speculative nature of Crypto Assets intertwines with real-world events, even trying to extract value from them. But this story also raises deeper questions: when a token born out of tragedy ultimately gains legitimacy through “charity” and community power, does this signify that the line between speculation and purpose is becoming blurred? Radmeck hopes to boost the token's market value to $50 million through a “shout-out” from Elon Musk or Donald Trump, granting it lasting value akin to $PNUT. For him, this project seems to have become a form of “divine intervention,” endowing him with a new sense of mission.