Insiders Cash In Millions as Ye, Formerly Kanye West, 'Apparently' Issues YZY Token

$YZY Money, a Solana-based memecoin linked to Ye (formerly Kanye West), debuted earlier on Thursday with blistering gains and an equally sharp controversy.

Ye’s X account posted about the token in early Asian hours on Thursday, raising immediate concerns about it being a compromised account. It later posted a video showing Ye talking about and confirming the issuance (it is unclear if it is the real Ye or an AI generation).

(CoinDesk Data)

The token briefly touched $3.16 in early trading — a surge of nearly 6,800% from its issue price — with some trackers claiming it briefly commanded a $3 billion market cap.

Behind the frenzy supposedly sits the broader $YZY ecosystem, which Ye’s team has pitched as including a $YZY token, a Ye Pay processor for transactions, and a $YZY Card for global spending of $YZY and $USDC.

$YZY’s structure was first revealed by CoinDesk in February, which reported that 70% of supply would go directly to Ye personally, with 10% for liquidity and 20% for public sale.

At the time, insiders said Ye had initially demanded an 80% stake — the same allocation structure tied to Donald Trump’s $TRUMP token — before being negotiated down. The project has also carried heavy baggage from the start. Ye had previously declared that “coins prey on the fans with hype” before backtracking and approving $YZY.

Sources told CoinDesk the token was meant to mimic $TRUMP’s success, even as Argentina was roiled by a similar scandal when President Javier Milei’s endorsed LIBRA coin collapsed as a pump-and-dump.

Critics flagged then — and now — that such insider-heavy distributions tilt risk squarely toward retail buyers, especially when paired with a single-sided liquidity pool.

The token distribution shows 20% allocated to the public, 10% to liquidity, and 70% to Yeezy Investments LLC, locked for 24 months under a structured vesting arrangement via Jupiter Lock.

To prevent bot-driven manipulation, 25 contract addresses were initially deployed, with only one randomly selected as the official token. That 1-in-25 anti-sniping setup was billed as a fairer launch — but on-chain data suggests insiders still had advance access.

Analytics account Lookonchain identified wallet 6MNWV8 as knowing the contract address in advance. The wallet even attempted to buy $YZY before launch. Once live, it spent 450,611 $USDC to acquire 1.29 million tokens at roughly $0.35 each. It later sold 1.04 million $YZY for 1.39 million $USDC, leaving 249,907 tokens worth about $600,000 — booking a profit of more than $1.5 million.

“Insider wallet 6MNWV8 knew the contract address in advance and even tried buying yesterday,” Lookonchain wrote on X.

OnChain Lens flagged an even larger whale who invested 12,170 SOL (about $2.28 million) for 2.67 million $YZY. Current holdings are valued at $8.29 million — an unrealized gain of about $6 million.

Only $YZY tokens were seeded into the liquidity pool, without pairing against $USDC. That single-sided setup allows developers or large holders to add and remove liquidity in ways that effectively let them cash out, a structure similar to the controversial LIBRA token.

“Only $YZY was added to the liquidity pool with no $USDC. Dev may sell $YZY by adding/removing liquidity, similar to $LIBRA,” Lookonchain noted.

The hype and quick gains show how much speculation still drives Solana’s memecoins.

Meanwhile, $YZY has already slipped to nearly $1, with some early buyers taking heavy hits.

On-chain data shows wallet 6ZFnRH spent 1.55 million $USDC to buy 996,453 $YZY at $1.56, only to sell at $1.06 for 1.05 million $USDC — booking a loss of nearly $500,000 in under two hours.

Read more: Ye, Self-Proclaimed 'Nazi' Who Said 'Coins Prey on Fans,' Plans $YZY Token