Kanye West’s YZY MONEY and the YZY Token Frenzy

Kanye West’s YZY MONEY launched on Solana, surging to $3.1B market cap before stabilizing. High centralization raises manipulation concerns.

YZY combines celebrity hype with blockchain payments. Despite early frenzy, insider holdings and volatility make it risky for long-term investors.

Ye created YZY MONEY to bypass traditional commerce bans. Its future relies on Ye Pay and YZY Card adoption, not hype alone.

On August 21, 2025, American rapper Kanye West (now known as Ye) posted a major announcement on X, launching the YZY token on the Solana blockchain and its payment ecosystem, YZY MONEY. The official site is money.yeezy.com. This move marks Ye’s new attempt in blockchain and triggered sharp market swings: YZY’s market cap jumped from about $200 million to $3.1 billion—a 14x increase—and then pulled back.

I. TOKEN ECONOMICS: HIGH CENTRALIZATION AND VESTING

According to the tokenomics on the YZY MONEY website (money.yeezy.com), the YZY token allocation is as follows:

Public Sale: 20%

Used for public market sales to retail investors to encourage broad participation.

Liquidity Pool: 10%

Allocated to decentralized exchanges (such as Meteora or Jupiter) to provide trading liquidity and ensure smooth market trading.

Yeezy Investments LLC (Issuer): 30%

Lockup: 3 months

Release: Linear over 24 months after the lockup ends.

Held by an entity controlled by Ye for brand operations or other strategic uses.

Team: 20%

Lockup: 6 months

Release: Linear over 24 months after the lockup ends.

Used to incentivize the project development team.

Ecosystem Development Fund: 20%

Lockup: 12 months

Release: Linear over 24 months after the lockup ends.

Used to support the long-term growth of the YZY MONEY ecosystem, such as marketing, partnerships, and tech upgrades.

Total: 70% of the tokens (Yeezy Investments LLC + Team + Ecosystem Development Fund) have vesting. This is meant to reduce short-term sell pressure and stabilize price by gradual release.

However, this highly centralized structure (70% controlled by Ye and related entities) has raised concerns about potential manipulation. Discussions on X suggest that at least 94% of YZY is held by insiders, with 87% once concentrated in a single multisig wallet (now split across multiple wallets), which intensified centralization debates.

In addition, YZY uses the Solana blockchain, leveraging its high throughput and low fees, suitable for e-commerce payments. The project uses the Jupiter Lock protocol for token locks to ensure transparency and security, and provides liquidity via Meteora. Community reports say mint and freeze permissions for main liquidity pools are disabled and liquidity is fully locked, but the pool size is small, which may limit stability for large trades.

II. MARKET PERFORMANCE: SHORT-LIVED CELEBRITY FRENZY AND PULLBACK

The YZY launch by Ye sparked a market frenzy. According to GeckoTerminal, market cap quickly surged from about $200 million to $3.1 billion, with a peak price of $3.43 per token, showing Ye’s celebrity effect.

This pattern matches typical meme coin behavior: hype drives a short-term spike, followed by a pullback due to profit-taking or market adjustment.

Community reactions on X were split. Some users said YZY’s market cap “instantly hit $2 billion,” showing the power of “on-chain belief.” Others were bearish, pointing to high insider holdings that could lead to “bulldozer-style” selling.

In addition, Lookonchain observed several insider wallets buying YZY right after Ye’s post, showing insider confidence but also raising “insider trading” concerns.

III. PROJECT BACKGROUND: FROM BUSINESS LIMITATIONS TO A BLOCKCHAIN BREAKOUT

The launch of YZY MONEY is closely tied to Ye’s business challenges.

In 2022, due to antisemitic remarks and calling himself a “Nazi,” Ye lost partnerships with Adidas, Gap, Shopify, and others. His billionaire status suffered; his net worth reportedly fell from $2 billion to $400 million.

To bypass restrictions from traditional e-commerce and payment platforms, Ye turned to blockchain, aiming to build an independent payment ecosystem through YZY MONEY.

Core Components of YZY MONEY:

YZY Token: The primary payment medium for the Yeezy brand, used for purchases on the official site.

Ye Pay: A payment processor that accepts credit cards and crypto, promising merchant fees 3.5% lower than traditional platforms.

YZY Card: Lets users spend YZY and USDC globally without converting to fiat.

This ecosystem aims to integrate crypto into everyday transactions and attract both crypto-native users and Yeezy brand fans.

However, the rollout was not smooth. As early as February 2025, Ye planned to issue YZY but delayed it due to caution around celebrity tokens (for example, the LIBRA token backed by Argentina’s president was exposed as a “pump-and-dump”). On February 9, Ye said on X, “I will not issue a token; coins only exploit fans with hype,” but later changed his stance, showing a shift in his view on blockchain.

CONCLUSION AND INVESTMENT ADVICE

Kanye West’s YZY MONEY is a typical case of celebrity influence combined with blockchain technology. Ye is trying to break traditional business limits through the YZY token and a payment ecosystem, showing innovation amid adversity. However, the token distribution is highly centralized, and meme-coin volatility is high.

Investment Advice:

Cautious Participation: YZY’s high volatility makes it more suitable for short-term speculation rather than long-term holding. Invest only what you can afford to lose, and closely follow Ye’s X posts and official announcements.

Verify Information: Use the official site (money.yeezy.com) or Ye’s official X account to verify the token contract address (e.g., DrZ26cKJDksVRWib3DVVsjo9eeXccc7hKhDJviiYEEZY) to avoid counterfeit tokens.

Watch Ecosystem Progress: The long-term value of YZY MONEY depends on the adoption of Ye Pay and YZY Card. Track technical development and merchant partnerships.

The future of YZY MONEY holds both potential and high risk. Ye’s brand power gives the project a unique edge, but success will depend on turning hype into a sustainable business model. Investors and observers should remain vigilant and watch how it performs at the intersection of blockchain and fashion.

〈Kanye West’s YZY MONEY and the YZY Token Frenzy〉這篇文章最早發佈於《CoinRank》。