Kanye West, now officially known as Ye, has entered the crypto space with his first direct venture, releasing a Solana-based token called YZY.
The rapper shared the news on X, posting the contract address alongside the Yeezy Money website, and confirmed in a self-filmed video, “the official YZY token just dropped.”
Source: Kanye West’s X
The token forms the core of a broader initiative called YZY Money, which includes Ye Pay, a payment processor aiming to reduce merchant fees by accepting both crypto and credit cards, and the YZY Card for spending digital assets globally.
Source: money.yeezy.com
The website describes the system as “a new financial system built on crypto rails,” framing YZY as the native currency for this ecosystem.
YZY employs an anti-sniping mechanism, initially deploying 25 contract addresses and randomly selecting one as the official token.
According to project documents, this approach is intended to “put power back into the hands of real traders.”
The total token supply is distributed with 20% allocated to the public, 10% to liquidity, and 70% held by Yeezy Investments LLC under a 24-month structured vesting plan via Jupiter Lock.
Within 40 minutes of its launch, YZY surged to a market capitalization exceeding $3 billion, briefly reaching $3.16 per token — a roughly 6,800% increase from its initial price.
Listings quickly appeared on platforms including CoinMarketCap, Bitget, and Poloniex.
Despite the rapid gains, concerns over insider control emerged.
Conor Grogan, Coinbase director, noted that insiders held roughly 94% of the supply, with a single multisig wallet originally controlling 87% before redistribution.
Onchain analytics highlighted that only YZY tokens were added to the liquidity pool, leaving developers the ability to modify liquidity and sell tokens at will.
Even amid these warnings, several high-profile traders jumped in.
James Wynn, a leverage trader, said whales would be attracted by the token’s liquidity and volume.
He explained his decision by citing the precedent set by President Donald Trump’s Solana-based memecoin.
“Aped $YZY on a 60% pull back. $TRUMP ran from $4bn to $15bn in 28 hours. 4x.”
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes also reportedly purchased YZY tokens.
The launch has already sparked dramatic trading stories.
One investor initially bought the wrong token, losing $710,000, but later recovered the amount by acquiring the correct YZY token.
Another early buyer made a $6 million profit when the token peaked, while paying $24,000 in priority Solana network fees to secure fast processing.
Despite the initial hype, YZY faces scrutiny over potential security and insider issues.
Ye’s X account has been suspected of being hacked, adding questions about the authenticity of the launch and the safety of the token.
Adding to the uncertainty, some have questioned whether the self-filmed video was manipulated using AI.
Source: X
Observers also recall a February warning from West, who said he was asked to promote a fake currency for $2 million that would have involved faking a hacked account.
While the token drew rapid attention and investment, these incidents highlight the risks surrounding celebrity-backed meme coins.
The combination of potential hacks, concentrated insider holdings, and market volatility underscores that such projects may carry as much uncertainty as opportunity.
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