This one’s got drama and fireworks straight outta a Hollywood set. Kanye West decides to step into crypto with his new YZY token on Solana.
The buzz? Explosive. The price? Skyrocketed to $3 billion in just 40 minutes.
But then, almost as fast, the party slows, and the value slumps to around $1.05 billion, leaving people scratching their heads.
Insider dominance?
So what happened? How did this rocket lose some of its shine? Turns out, the insiders might’ve been playing a long con from day one.
Analysts flagged some serious red flags, like developers holding nearly all the chips.
One multisig wallet controlled 87% of tokens before the supply got split up into smaller wallets. That’s like owning the whole freakin’ casino.
And liquidity? Oh, they got that covered, alright, only YZY tokens were put into the pool at first, letting the insiders manipulate the market at will.
Sounds eerily familiar to past celebrity-backed crypto fiascos, where hype outpaced trust and people got burned.
Coinbase director Conor Grogan wasn’t shy about pointing it out, and on-chain sleuths at Lookonchain dug up the dirt, confirming the heavy insider dominance and dicey liquidity moves.
ye( @kanyewest ) launched the $YZY token. Note:
Only $YZY was added to the liquidity pool with no $USDC .
Dev may sell $YZY by adding/removing liquidity, similar to $LIBRA .Multiple insider wallets prepared funds in advance and immediately bought $YZY .
Insider wallet 6MNWV8 knew… pic.twitter.com/qv7nsx0R4J
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 21, 2025
High profile players
Still, despite the risks, and maybe because of the drama, high-profile players jumped into the fray.
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes and leverage trader James Wynn shouted from the rooftops about their YZY bets.
Pls don't rug me @kanyewest !!! $YZY for the win … cause bull market.
Yachtzee pic.twitter.com/16ZruT8WqA
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) August 21, 2025
Wynn even compared it to Trump’s memecoin that quadrupled in value in a day earlier this year.
You know the type, high risk, high speed, and maybe high reward. Playing with fire, probably.
And reward, indeed, some early traders walked away with fat wallets. One lucky soul snagged $3.4 million in profits after paying high Solana network fees just to get priority.
It’s like showing up first to the nightclub and cashing in on the exclusive bottle service.
Hype gone wrong
The crypto world was already buzzing with celeb tokens and political fireworks. Just look at Trump’s TRUMP token, which exploded to billions in market cap shortly after launching.
For Kanye and YZY, it’s a crazy ride of hype, hype, and maybe a pinch of hype gone wrong.
Celebrity crypto launches might promise shiny new worlds, but don’t ignore the smoke signals, insider control and liquidity tricks can bust the party quicker than you can say blockchain.
Cryptocurrency and Web3 expert, founder of Kriptoworld
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With years of experience covering the blockchain space, András delivers insightful reporting on DeFi, tokenization, altcoins, and crypto regulations shaping the digital economy.
