The hip hop star, Kanye West, now known as Ye, has jumped headfirst into crypto with the launch of his own Solana-based token. He named the token Yeezy Money ($YZY) while calling it “A new economy, built on chain.” However, YZY price saw a sharp uptick to breach $3 before collapsing down to the $1 zone.
The move comes just months after the rapper dismissed memecoins as fan exploitation. It pushes him directly into the same cultural-crypto space now being defined by Donald Trump and a wave of celebrity-backed coins.
Insider wallet flips $450K into $1.5M
The hype was immediate as YZY briefly surged to a $3 billion market cap within minutes of going live, before sliding back to around $1.5 billion. The token’s trading address was listed on Solana’s Meteora platform, and Kanye West’s team said it deployed 25 contract addresses to fight bot sniping.
Yeezy Money’s official website describes it as a broader “ecosystem.” It comes with YZY token, a payment processor called Ye Pay designed to cut merchant fees, and a YZY Card that allows spending in both crypto and fiat. The site mentioned that “YZY Money is a concept to put you in control, free from centralized authority.”
The website tried to highlight YZY’s on-chain transparency. It added that 20% of tokens are allocated to public sale, another 20% to liquidity, while 30% sits with Yeezy Investments LLC under a vesting schedule. Additional tranches will unlock over 24 months, as this needs to be done to avoid a sudden flood of supply.
It looks like YZY would end in a quick rug pull like other celebrity coins have. Blockchain tracker Lookonchain flagged several insider wallets that appeared to buy YZY ahead of the public. One wallet, labeled 6MNWV8, spent more than $450,000 USDC for early tokens and flipped them for more than $1.5 million in profit within hours. It bought 1.29 million YZY at $0.35 and sold 1.04 million YZY for $1.39 million.
Arthur Hayes regrets trading Kanye’s YZY
Taking a trade on YZY, Arthur Hayes in a post stated, “Pls don’t rug me Kanye West !!! $YZY for the win … cause bull market.” A few hours later, he wrote, “Oopsie … fam next time pls don’t let me trade shitters like $YZY. Should have just kept two-steppin.”
YZY price is down by 54% from the launch, trading at an average price of $1.18 at the press time. Its 24-hour trading volume is up by a massive 35,000% to stand around $935 million.
Oopsie … fam next time pls don’t let me trade shitters like $YZY. Should have just kept two-steppin. pic.twitter.com/6oiKLNv9Mo
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) August 21, 2025
In February, Ye was dismissing memecoins as scams that “prey on the fans with hype.” He also claimed he was approached with a $2 million offer to promote a fake Ye-branded token. Meanwhile, he now joined the ranks of celebrities like Iggy Azalea and Caitlyn Jenner in the crypto world.
With this, Solana has built a reputation as the home of viral tokens like BONK and dog-themed WIF. Now, Ye’s entry could mark another cultural moment. SOL price jumped by more than 2% over the last 24 hours. Solana is trading at an average price of $186.11 at the press time.
