Kanye West’s YZY token hits $3b within minutes of launch, then crashes amid insider trading fears

Rapper Kanye West, commonly known as Ye, recently launched the YZY token on Solana. Just 40 minutes after its launch, the token rocketed to $3 billion in value. Still, concerns over insider sales dented a large portion of the gains.

In a Thursday X post, West, who officially goes by Ye, shared the contract address and the Yeezy Money website, which he describes as “A NEW ECONOMY, BUILT ON CHAIN.”

The website describes YZY as a currency to power transactions within “YZY MONEY,” a ”financial system built on crypto rails.”


In a later post, West was seen saying, “the official YZY token just dropped.”

Later, X added a reader's context. ‘It is Worth noting that Mikey Shelton, a developer behind this token, has openly bragged about insider trading of it on his Instagram,’ it said.

According to data analytics platform Nansen, the YZY token's market capitalization reached $3 billion in just 40 minutes, but later, it was down to $295.2 million.

The website states that the token is not available to entities in restricted jurisdictions. It also cautions users about the risks associated with digital assets, including the potential for complete loss.

The Yeezy Money website said that it deployed 25 contract addresses for the YZY token, with one selected at random to be the official token in order to discourage token snipers.

Still, the YZY token launch has raised suspicions over insider trading, similar to other celebrity memecoins.

In a similar incident in February, the Argentine president shared information about the LIBRA token on social media, which caused its market capitalization to surge to $4 billion.

However, he quickly deleted the post after receiving backlash from the community, leading to a sharp decline in the token's price.

Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump also launched the TRUMP memecoin in anticipation of his presidential inauguration.

Is it a scam?

Cointelegraph first pointed out that in February, Ye revealed to his fans how he was offered nearly $2 million to post about a fake Ye token.

Ye wrote, "Those left of it, I said no and stopped working with their person who proposed it."

Another alarming aspect is that many are alleging insider trading. On-chain data shows that Ye or his team did not add USDC to the liquidity pool.

This indicates that developers can control liquidity at will and dump tokens on buyers by adjusting or removing liquidity.

Further, according to analytics firm Lookonchain, some wallets with "insider knowledge" made very profitable trades.