Renowned rapper Kanye West (Ye) has finally officially launched his MEME token YZY, following a half-year teaser. The market buzz surged rapidly, but the launch has also drawn intense scrutiny due to controversies surrounding centralized control and potential insider trading.

Highly centralized team control; operational model closely resembles that of the Argentine President's token LIBRA

On August 21, Kanye announced the debut of a new brand, YZY MONEY, and issued the YZY token on Solana. To validate authenticity, the official team released a video featuring Kanye himself as endorsement.

According to YZY’s tokenomics, 20% is allocated for public sale, 10% for liquidity pools, 30% distributed to Yeezy Investments LLC (locked for 3 months, linear release over 24 months), 20% to the team (locked for 6 months, linear release over 24 months), and 20% reserved for ecosystem development funds (locked for 12 months, linear release over 24 months). This means over 70% of the supply remains in internal hands, with limited circulating supply available to public markets.

To mitigate front-running attacks, the team pre-deployed 25 contract addresses and randomly selected one as the official contract. However, some users still front-ran by selecting incorrect addresses, resulting in losses. For instance, according to Chainalysis by Ai Yi, an address spent $767,000 betting on YZY on August 20 has since exited its position, suffering approximately $704,000 in losses within three hours. While this mechanism appears to enhance fairness, it simultaneously provides ample room for internal actors to manipulate the market.

Concurrently, YZY MONEY established partnerships with several prominent Solana-based MEME ecosystems, including Meteora, Jupiter, and MoonPay, and climbed onto Moonshot less than 15 minutes after the announcement.

The celebrity effect combined with meticulous planning ignited rapid hype for YZY. GMGN data shows YZY’s market cap briefly surpassed $3.4 billion before falling below $1 billion, with daily trading volume exceeding $380 million and fee revenue already surpassing 2,500 SOL.

Yet beneath the frenzy, on-chain data reveals deeper layers of insider manipulation. According to Lookonchain analysis, only YZY has been added to liquidity pools—no USDC. Developers can sell YZY by adding or removing liquidity, mirroring the mechanics of MEME token LIBRA. Multiple insider wallets had funds ready and bought YZY immediately after the announcement. Wallet 6MNWV8, which had prior knowledge of the contract address, even attempted to purchase yesterday. Today, it spent 450,611 USDC at $0.35 per YZY to acquire 1.29 million YZY tokens, then sold 1.04 million YZY for $1.39 million, retaining 249,907 YZY (~$600,000), generating profits exceeding $1.5 million. Another insider used two wallets to spend $450,000 USDC at $0.24 per YZY to buy 1.89 million YZY, later selling 1.59 million at $2.12 each for $3.37 million USDC. To ensure priority access, one wallet even paid 129 SOL ($24,000 in priority fees).

Coinbase executive Conor Grogan also noted that at least 94% of the new Kanye token is held internally, with 87% previously controlled by a single multi-sig wallet now dispersed across multiple addresses; approximately 3% was acquired in large volumes by multi-wallets at launch, and 7% allocated to liquidity pools.

Crypto influencer scooter (@imperooterxbt), who previously exposed insider details of the LIBRA token, stated he is 99% certain Hayden Davis (LIBRA project advisor) is involved in launching YZY, given the striking similarity between YZY’s structure and LIBRA from several months ago.

Even more intriguing is that hours before the YZY announcement, a U.S. judge lifted a freeze on funds worth $57.6 million tied to Libra’s founder. Scooter remarked that YZY was launched just five hours after Davis’s funds were unfrozen—hardly coincidental.

To deter investor litigation, YZY’s official documentation explicitly includes a “class action waiver.” It states, “To the fullest extent permitted by law, you agree not to initiate, join, or participate in any class action lawsuit, claim, dispute, or controversy against any protected party. You consent that courts may issue injunctions to prevent such actions or remove you from proceedings. You agree to pay all legal fees and costs incurred by any protected party in seeking such remedies.”

Additionally, in the YZY launch, Kanye introduced two independent projects: Ye Pay and YZY Card.

Ye Pay is a crypto payment processor enabling merchants to accept credit card and cryptocurrency payments, with fees lower than the typical 3.5% charged by traditional platforms. Merchants can seamlessly integrate Ye Pay into their websites or apps, offering consumers a simple and fast checkout experience.

YZY Card is a debit card usable globally with YZY and USDC, allowing users to top up via fiat or crypto from any non-custodial wallet, supporting assets like YZY, USDC, and USDT. Additionally, Kanye enables users to purchase Yeezy-branded apparel using USDC or YZY (upcoming).

Controversial motives behind the token launch

In fact, back in February, when the MEME market was riding the wave of celebrity-driven token launches led by Trump, sources revealed that Kanye West had planned to emulate Trump’s TRUMP token model by launching an official Yeezy-branded token, YZY, initially scheduled for February 21, intended for use on his official website.

At the time, disclosures indicated that Kanye would personally receive 70% of the token supply, 10% for liquidity provision, and 20% for investors. This information reportedly came from Hussein Lalani, Yeezy’s CFO, via email. However, the launch was ultimately postponed, linked to the rug pull incident involving Argentina’s President Milei’s token.

Subsequently, numerous counterfeit YZY tokens flooded the market. Prior to that, Kanye had publicly stated he received a $2 million proposal to promote a rug-pull MEME token. The proposer claimed potential earnings could reach tens of millions, but Kanye rejected the offer, emphasizing: “I won’t issue tokens—I only build products I truly love and understand. I’m already wealthy; there’s no need to do anything else. Token speculation is deceiving fans, much like the inflated sneaker culture.”

Yet shortly afterward, Kanye posted: “All current tokens are fake. I’ll launch mine next week.” He then began frequently following or unfollowing accounts of key figures in the crypto space, such as CZ and Polychain Capital’s founder, fueling speculation about his direction. That tweet was later deleted, leading the community to believe the token launch was dead—until he quietly waited for the right moment.

This inconsistent stance drew widespread criticism from the crypto community and raised serious doubts. Some KOLs speculated Kanye’s account might have been sold, citing anomalies such as a switch from dark mode to light mode interface and new follows of Doginal-related accounts. Kanye denied these claims and insisted that when he officially launches his crypto project, it will be done through formal and transparent channels.

Similar contradictions emerged when Kanye entered the NFT space. In 2021, he participated in the NFT release of the single “Can U Be/Forever Mitus,” yet later declared: “Don’t make me do NFTs—I focus on real-world products like food or clothing.”

From early staunch opposition to now personally launching a token, Kanye’s motivations and tactics have thrust the project into a storm of controversy. Whether this meticulously packaged capital game will end in triumph or collapse remains to be seen.

Original Title: "After Six-Month Delay, Kanye Finally Launches His MEME Token! Suspected Involvement of Argentine President's Token Team, Multiple Insiders Front-Run and Profit"

Original Author: Nancy, PANews