Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s death spurs dark cryptocurrency frenzy as people trade on her memory

Among the more than 1,000 donations on the GoFundMe page for the family of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, an interesting name popped up repeatedly: donations from a “Celeste Community Member on Solana.” One for $1,000 and another for $400 with a note of support, “Wishing you strength and sending love as you grieve this unimaginable loss.”

KTLA began looking into the Celeste ‘community.’ As the story of what happened to the young teenager who went missing a year ago in Lake Elsinore continues to unravel, with questions as to how she ended up tragically dead in the trunk of a Tesla belonging to rising R&B star D4VD, another dark story has started to unfold: cryptocurrency traders buying and selling on Celeste’s memory.

MemeCoins are part of the digital cryptocurrency business. As Google AI breaks it down, MemeCoins are based on an internet meme, celebrity, or viral event, rather than having a significant technical purpose. Their value is primarily driven by social media hype, community enthusiasm, and speculation.

While many of us understand very little about crypto, others are making huge money on digital currency transactions. Soon after the story started to make worldwide headlines, coins supposedly in tribute to Celeste started popping up to be bought, sold, and traded on sites including Solana.

One crypto journalist posed the question, “Justice for Celeste’ tokens spark outrage: Tribute or Exploitation?”

Journalist Samyukhtha L KM writes, “Some tragedies are too overwhelming to fully grasp, yet somehow, the internet finds a way to distort them. The death of 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez has left social media shaken with anger and grief. But in crypto’s darkest corner, her name has already become a token. Dozens of ‘Justice for Celeste’ coins are trading on exchanges, raising serious ethical concerns.”

That’s right. As AMBCrypto explains, dozens of different MemeCoins for Celeste started appearing on crypto sites, actually trading with real value, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars—all trading on the memory, sympathy, and anger for what happened to Celeste Rivas Hernandez, or potentially just the publicity and lightning-hot interest in her story.

Does Celeste’s family actually see any money from this? It’s hard to say. Solana is a network that enables ways to transfer value and interact online. There are other exchanges just like it with similar tribute coins. Presumably, some of those traders from the Solana community are some of the ones behind the donations we mentioned at the beginning of this story. There may be more donations.

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But where does all the money go? Who’s regulating the sales? And who’s policing them?

We took those questions to crypto expert Natalie Brunell, podcaster and Bitcoin educator who runs the podcast ‘Coin Stories.’ Brunell tells KTLA, “I understand that some people may want to raise awareness or even funds for a family in need, but the reality is that when a token appears overnight, there’s no oversight, no guarantees, and usually no accountability.”

Brunell says, “Anyone can create a token on a decentralized exchange in minutes. There’s no one policing them, and very often the people who profit are anonymous developers or early insiders. Even if a token project claims funds are going to a victim’s family, there’s no mechanism that ensures that actually happens.”

KTLA reached out to Solana for comment and has not heard back. As for the MemeCoins being traded on the name of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, many are still up.

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