Crypto Traders Capitalize on Charlie Kirk Controversy as Ethical Boundaries Blur
Crypto markets show no mercy—even for tragedy. Digital asset traders just pocketed serious gains amid the Charlie Kirk murder speculation, proving once again that in decentralized finance, sentiment moves faster than morality.
ETHEREUM WHALES LEAD THE CHARGE
Major holders piled into volatility tokens and prediction market contracts as news broke. Trading volumes spiked 300% on decentralized platforms within hours—because nothing fuels crypto rallies like human drama.
THE ETHICS OF ALGORITHMIC OPPORTUNISM
Automated bots triggered buy orders within minutes of trending topics. No human emotions, just cold execution. Some call it efficiency; others call it ghoulish capitalism at its finest.
REGULATORS SCRAMBLE AS DEFI DEFIES OVERSIGHT
Authorities can't keep pace with anonymous traders profiting from real-world events. Traditional finance would face investigations—crypto just faces another Tuesday.
Where traditional investors see tragedy, crypto sees alpha. The market doesn't discriminate—it just calculates. And as always, the house wins, even when the house is just code.
“Anything is fair game”
A prominent pseudonymous meme coin trader, 0xWinged, called such critiques “virtue signalling,” suggesting the community is now drawing an arbitrary line that hasn’t been well-defined in the past. 0xWinged explained that he is both sad about Kirk’s death and WOULD have traded the tokens—but was “sidelined sadly.”
“If it’s not me, it’s someone else making money. Meme coins are about reach and publicity. Kirk was the most viral event,” 0xWinged told Decrypt. “I think Crypto Twitter, having moderate right political views, saw Charlie not as a random victim but as a martyr for a greater cause. And the tokenizing of this event reduced his real-world achievements to a market cap.”
He added that he doesn’t think those profiting off the tokens have “any ill intent,” explaining that “anything is fair game” when it comes to meme coin trading. He also admitted there's something “dystopian” about that.
Others think that dystopian feeling crosses a line. Loopify, a pseudonymous game developer and founder of charity CryptoGaza, compared the trend to investing in war stocks, which he believes exists “below the moral line.”
“My opinion: anyone who makes money off coins like that, you’re the problem with crypto,” pseudonymous meme coin trader WombatAF told Decrypt. “Death isn’t funny, memes should be funny, or a joke. Something you can just get over. Not death and crime.”
CT is full of the most hypocritical, racist, scummy people with no morals
But buying a Charlie Kirk coin is where they draw the line🤣🤣
— 🪐 (@bilal_m17) September 10, 2025
Crypto degens and profiteering
This is, of course, not the first time that crypto degens have profited from tragic events or ethically questionable spectacles—though the Charlie Kirk coins have sparked notably more outrage among meme coin traders.
Last year, meme coin traders pumped tokens based on unfounded rumors that Joe Biden had died… he hadn’t. This year, degens pumped a token called Swasticoin as they parroted antisemitic and Nazi ideologies. And, over the past seven days, traders profited from meme coins referencing the murder of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Solana token Justice for Iryna hit a $33.8 million market cap with the top five traders profiting $661,700 on the token. The deployer has earned $190,920 in creator fees, but appears to have donated part of this to a GoFundMe for Zarutska’s family. Equally, a token calling for the death penalty for the alleged killer pumped to $40 million, with the top five traders profiting $506,000 from it.
“There is a 9/11 token out right now [and] no one is mentioning it,” Pump.fun livestream clipper Barton Baste told Decrypt, adding that other meme coins are available that reference the deadly protests in Nepal. “What has happened there recently is extremely tragic,” they pointed out.
0xWinged said crypto’s right-wing base meant the death of Kirk felt more impactful than any previous tragic event that degens profited from—not that meme coin traders are against profiting from death.
The fact all yall were foaming at the mouth for the little Ukranian girl stabbed in the neck coin 24 hours ago, sent that shit to 30 mil, but a few shitposts today is where you draw the line is the most absurd thing I’ve ever witnessed. Disgusting lmao
— Lexapro (@LexaproTrader) September 11, 2025
An “oscillating barrier of tolerance”
The pseudonymous Scorched Earth Policy, who holds the title of chief of staff at the Milady-run Remilia Corporation, told Decrypt the situation is reflective of the “hive mind” of the crypto market. He doesn’t believe market participants draw static ethical lines but are instead moved by a “constantly oscillating barrier of tolerance towards distaste.” The more market participants there are, the closer it will represent the cultural consensus, he said.
“Each of these coins has their own specific context,” Scorched Earth Policy said. “Iryna could have developed just as much backlash as the Charlie coins if her story kept gestating. From what I understand, though, the main coin promised to provide money to her family. [But] that sort of thing is often used as a buffer mechanism to default grift resistance.”
We appreciate the community's hard work over the past four days. With PumpFun's fees and our organic growth, we can prove that the crypto community can make positive change in the world. there is still hope for Crypto communities.#JusticeForIrynaZarutska
GG @pumpdotfun pic.twitter.com/WsC1Gxw9Q7
— NINJA (@BtcFrog4628) September 11, 2025
Ultimately, the meme coin trenches are the rawest expression of free markets. With the invention of Pump.fun—and the launchpads that followed—anyone can create a meme coin for free, from their phone, in seconds. Then, anyone with a dollar in their digital wallet can buy that token, and then equally sell it.
“Personally, I feel nothing towards it,” Scorched Earth Policy said. “It’s tasteless to participate in something like that but it’s also naive to treat it like something that can be improved.”
It appears, for now at least, that meme coins pumping and dumping based on murders, disasters, and other ethically questionable ordeals are an unavoidable feature of permissionless markets, where cultural events are currency and their users are anonymous.
