Kanye West, now known as Ye, has entered the world of cryptocurrency with his own meme coin called YZY. Ye announced the coin on August 21, 2025 Wednesday night on his social media account X (formerly Twitter). YEEZY MONEY IS HERE
The launch created huge excitement, with the coin’s value jumping to $3 billion in just 40 minutes after release on the Solana blockchain.
But the hype didn’t last long. Within a few hours, the YZY coin lost most of its value, crashing by nearly 70%. By the end of the first day, investors had seen about $20 million in losses, while a small group of early buyers walked away with big profits.
Experts say the coin was highly centralized, meaning most of the supply was controlled by Kanye’s team and insiders. Reports show:
- Around 70–90% of YZY tokens were held by wallets linked to the project itself.
- Only 10% of tokens were available for regular buyers.
- Some traders dumped their tokens early, taking out more than $24 million in profits.
Interestingly, just before launching YZY, Kanye had posted: “I’m not doing a coin. Coins prey on the fans with hype.” That post was later deleted. Soon after, he announced YZY Money, a bigger plan that includes the token, a crypto payment system, and even a debit card.
In total, more than $740 million worth of YZY tokens were traded in the first day. But many fans who rushed in to support Kanye ended up losing money when the price collapsed.
