Rapper Kanye West officially entered the cryptocurrency space on Thursday, August 21, 2025, with the launch of YZY, a Solana-based meme coin. West announced the token in a video posted to his verified X account, declaring "The official Yeezy token just dropped" and linking to a website called Yeezy Money, described as a concept to put users "in control, free from centralized authority."
The token's debut was marked by extreme volatility. Within minutes, YZY surged nearly 1,000%, briefly achieving a market capitalization of approximately $3 billion before plummeting to around $137 million. According to Birdeye data, the market cap later fell below $1 billion. At the time of reporting, YZY was trading at just over $1, with a 24-hour trading volume exceeding $386 million and a circulating supply near 130 million tokens.
On-chain analytics revealed significant insider activity. Lookonchain reported that one investor spent 450,000 USDC to acquire 1.89 million YZY at $0.24 through two wallets. The same entity later sold 1.59 million tokens for 3.37 million USDC at $2.12, securing over $3.4 million in profit while still holding approximately $510,000 worth of YZY. To ensure early entry, one wallet paid 129 SOL ($24,000) in priority fees.
Centralization concerns were raised as Bubblemaps data indicated that a single wallet controls about 70% of the token's total one-billion supply. Public allocations were reported at just 20%, with the remainder vested under Yeezy Investments LLC.
The project is framed as part of a broader "YZY Money" ecosystem, which includes a proposed payment processor called Ye Pay and a debit card dubbed YZY Card. The website claims the token will support loyalty programs, retail use, and peer-to-peer transfers, but no timeline or technical details were provided. Yeezy representatives did not immediately return requests for comment on governance or compliance aspects.
The launch capitalizes on Solana's growing popularity for meme tokens, attributed to its fast transactions and low fees. It also occurs amid a resurgent crypto market, with total market value climbing to $4 trillion and politically-linked tokens fueling speculative interest.