From rap to memecoins: Kanye West сrypto adventure

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Kanye West сrypto adventure

The YZY crypto announcement

Last week, rapper, producer, and musician Kanye West announced that he would soon be launching his own memecoin, YZY. According to his vision, the token will serve as the official currency for his Yeezy brand, allowing holders to make purchases on his website.

Reports indicate that 70% of YZY tokens will be reserved for Kanye West himself, 10% will be allocated for liquidity, and 20% will be distributed among investors.

The news sparked massive excitement, with many traders eagerly anticipating the token’s launch. The hype was so intense that several fake YZY tokens appeared on the Pump.fun platform within days, with one reaching a market capitalization of $15 million at its peak. However, Kanye shut down the speculation, clarifying that YZY would only launch at the end of the month.

Initially, Polymarket estimated an 83% chance that West would follow through and launch the token in February. However, as of today, those odds have dropped to just 24%. What happened?

Bets on whether Kanye West will launch his token in February. Source: Polymarket

Issues with the launch

Originally, the memecoin was set to debut on February 20, but plans unexpectedly changed. Kanye deleted all his posts on X mentioning that date, including one hinting at discussions with Binance founder Changpeng Zhao about YZY’s launch.

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At the same time, Kanye began promoting neo-Nazi narratives, proposing the launch of “Swasticoin,” which he claimed would be “available for Jews.” Additionally, his website started selling HH-01 T-shirts, which many assumed stood for “Heil Hitler.”

The anti-Semitic content triggered widespread backlash. Actor David Schwimmer, known for his role in "Friends," even called on Elon Musk to ban Kanye’s account on X.

Rather than waiting to see what would happen, Kanye deleted his own X account, causing interest in YZY to plummet.

But why did Kanye get into crypto in the first place?

A tempting offer

In early February, Kanye revealed that he had almost fallen for a crypto scam. Scammers offered him $2 million to promote a fraudulent token, requesting that he post an ad for the fake cryptocurrency on social media, then delete it and claim his account was hacked.

Kanye declined the offer, but just an hour later, he posted a conversation where he asked for contacts in the crypto industry. The discussion even mentioned Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

Many assumed that Kanye wanted to learn more about crypto and launch his own legitimate token. Some tried to dissuade him, including crypto analyst Armeanio, who suggested that West should use crypto for selling his merchandise rather than launching a memecoin. However, Kanye was already determined.

Chasing money and fame

It appears that Kanye sees crypto as both a way to revive his fading fame and a lucrative business opportunity.

In 2022, Kanye suffered a major financial blow—due to his anti-Semitic remarks, Adidas terminated his $1.5 billion contract. Other brands, including Def Jam, JP Morgan Chase, and Balenciaga, followed suit.

Since then, Kanye has been desperately trying to stay in the spotlight, using both controversial statements and attention-grabbing stunts, such as his viral "naked dresses."

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A month ago, consulting firm Eton Venture Services released a report valuing Kanye West’s current net worth at $2.77 billion. The estimate factored in his music portfolio and Yeezy brand.

Kanye quickly posted the report on Instagram, emphasizing that he had regained billionaire status. Whether the valuation is accurate is unclear, but in any case, West is looking for more money.

Kanye also can’t ignore the fact that celebrities everywhere are launching cryptocurrencies.

In recent years, Iggy Azalea, Caitlyn Jenner, and former NBA stars have launched their own tokens. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from his TRUMP token, inspiring other politicians to consider crypto ventures.

Despite the public backlash, all signs point to Kanye launching YZY sooner or later. For him, the memecoin isn’t just a way to make headlines—it’s an attempt to replicate the success of other celebrity crypto projects. The hype around fake YZY tokens suggests that he might just succeed.

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