Kanye’s YZY Token Hits $3B Then Crashes 50% in a Day
YZY, a token promoted by Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, made its debut on the Solana (SOL) blockchain this week. Within less than an hour, the coin was trading at $3.16, briefly reaching a market cap of around $3 billion.
The launch was driven by heavy promotion on Ye’s social media accounts and a $20,000 prize pool for early participants. At first, some users wondered if his account had been compromised. A video later posted appeared to show Ye confirming the launch.
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1958346810801697237
Notably, that helped send the token soaring. But the rally did not last. By the next day, YZY was down more than 50 percent and now trades near $1.15. Its market cap has dropped to about $345 million. At press time, the token traded at 1.03%, indicating a 32% decline in the past 24 hours, based on Coingecko data.
Supply Questions and Liquidity Risks
Blockchain data shows that most of the supply was in the hands of insiders from the start. Coinbase executive Conor Grogan said that nearly 94 percent of tokens were controlled by a small group of wallets. One multisig address alone held 87 percent before wider distribution.
Analysts also questioned the way YZY’s liquidity was set up. Only YZY tokens were placed in the pool, with no USDC pairing. That means developers or large holders could pull liquidity and cash out at favorable prices.
“Only $YZY was added to the liquidity pool with no $USDC. Dev may sell $YZY by adding/removing liquidity, similar to $LIBRA,” on-chain account Lookonchain wrote on X.
https://twitter.com/lookonchain/status/1958355708010975580
On-chain records suggest some wallets had advance access. Wallet 6MNWV8 was flagged for trying to buy tokens before the official launch. When trading went live, it spent 450,611 USDC to grab 1.29 million YZY at about $0.35 each. It later sold most of that stash for 1.39 million USDC, while still holding close to $600,000 worth of tokens. The profit topped $1.5 million.
Another large buyer put in 12,170 SOL (around $2.28 million) for 2.67 million tokens. At current prices the holding is worth more than $8 million, with gains of about $6 million still unrealized. Smaller buyers did not fare as well. One wallet bought almost a million tokens for 1.55 million USDC at $1.56 each, then sold at $1.06, losing roughly half a million dollars in just hours.
Ye’s Role and Distribution Model
Questions remain over Ye’s involvement. The first post about the launch went out in the early Asian hours, leading to speculation the account was hacked. The video that followed has been debated too, with some asking if it was AI-generated.
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1958354070676402285
The token’s structure had been outlined earlier this year. Seventy percent of the supply was set aside for Ye’s company, Yeezy Investments LLC. Ten percent was allocated to liquidity and the remaining 20 percent for public sale.
Sources said Ye had pushed for 80 percent before the share was reduced. The setup mirrors the distribution model of Donald Trump’s TRUMP token, which also faced pushback over insider control.
Prediction Markets Weigh In
The uncertainty has spilled into prediction markets. On Polymarket, traders are speculating on whether Ye’s account was hacked when the token was announced. The market currently prices the chance at just 1%, down from earlier in the day, with more than $215,000 in trading volume.
The low probability reflects market confidence that Ye himself was behind the promotion. Still, the very existence of such a market underscores how unclear the situation remains. For traders, the question is not only about liquidity and supply but also whether the celebrity fronting the project is genuinely involved.
Celebrity Token Pattern
YZY is the latest in a string of celebrity-linked coins to draw scrutiny. Argentina’s president Javier Milei was criticized earlier this year for promoting the LIBRA token, which collapsed soon after launch. Trump’s TRUMP coin has also lost billions in value since its peak.
Logan Paul’s CryptoZoo, which failed to deliver on promises, remains tied up in lawsuits. The YZY rollout follows a familiar pattern: fast gains for insiders, sharp losses for retail traders, and questions over how much the celebrity attached to the project was directly involved.
