Famous American musician Kanye West announced the launch of his first cryptocurrency token, YZY, on the social media platform X. The token's market value skyrocketed to $3 billion within just 40 minutes of its launch, quickly attracting market attention. However, subsequent issues such as insider trading and liquidity pool control have sparked widespread discussion.

Looking back, celebrity token launches are not new, but after the hype, it is often the fans who end up paying the price.

In February of this year, Kanye publicly shared a chat screenshot on social media, claiming that someone tried to entice him to issue a "Rug Pull-style" meme coin for a reward of $2 million to exploit his fans. At that time, he used this example to emphasize that he would not casually leverage his fame to launch cryptocurrencies, seemingly drawing a line against "exploitation."

However, just six months later, Kanye has completely reversed his stance. On August 21, Kanye officially launched the YZY token and announced a detailed tokenomics model. According to the disclosed information, the supply of YZY tokens is highly concentrated, with about 70% controlled by Yeezy Investments LLC, and a small portion concentrated in six wallets, estimating that over 90% of the tokens are held by insiders.

YZY Tokenomics Analysis

According to the information released by the project team, the tokenomics of YZY is designed as follows:

Public Sale: 20%, aimed at the general public.

Liquidity Pool: 10%, used to ensure trading liquidity on Solana decentralized exchanges.

Yeezy Investments LLC: 70%, divided into three parts for locking and linear release:

30% locked for 3 months, then released linearly over 24 months;

20% locked for 6 months, then released linearly over 24 months;

20% locked for 12 months, then released linearly over 24 months.

The project team has also implemented a multi-contract release and "anti-sniping" mechanism (deploying 25 contract addresses, with only one randomly selected for official use) to suppress rush buying behavior.

Meanwhile, some leading trading platforms quickly jumped into this trend with keen insight. Gate, known for its "fast listing speed," was the first to act after the announcement, becoming the world's first platform to support Alpha, spot, and contract trading simultaneously. This means that regardless of whether investors are bullish or bearish, they can participate immediately and grasp market trends.

Kanye's token launch has sparked considerable backlash in public opinion, as looking back at Kanye's past actions, this is not the first time he has exploited his fans.

As early as around 2015, he created a fashion frenzy with the limited release of Yeezy sneakers. Each time a new product was released, fans had to queue up to buy within a short time, with prices quickly skyrocketing from retail prices of a few hundred dollars to several thousand or even tens of thousands of dollars, with significant premiums in the secondary market. Some fans invested large amounts of money or even purchased through scalpers to chase limited editions.

In 2021, Kanye further extended fan economics into the digital realm. He collaborated with his team to release several NFT peripheral products: the single "Can U Be / Forever Mitus" was sold as an NFT, and a combination of a bulletproof vest and NFT was sold for $50,000. Although these products touted innovation and collectible value, in practice, many fans bore significant economic pressure in the high-risk market.

In February 2022, Kanye made a high-profile statement on social media: "Don't make me do NFTs anymore," seemingly intending to distance himself from "exploiting fans." However, just three months later, his fashion brand Yeezus applied for trademarks related to the metaverse and NFTs, and he deleted previous negative comments about NFTs, showing a capricious attitude.

In recent years, more and more celebrities have entered the cryptocurrency market, launching personal tokens (Celebrity Tokens) or brand-related tokens to leverage their influence to attract fans and investors. These tokens often combine popular concepts such as social media, NFTs, and DeFi, and are seen as part of the fan economy.

For example, in January of this year, former U.S. President Trump launched his personal meme coin "TRUMP Coin" on social media. The token experienced extreme volatility upon launch: it opened at $0.1824, skyrocketed to about $30 within 12 hours, a rise of over 15,000%, and peaked at $75.35 within 24 hours, with a total market value reaching $82 billion before quickly falling back.

The day after Trump launched his coin, his wife Melania also introduced a coin named "MELANIA," while their youngest son launched a meme coin named "BARRON."

In late May, U.S. Olympic decathlon champion Caitlyn Jenner released her personal meme coin on the Pump.fun platform. At the same time, R&B singer Jason Derulo and Sahil Arora collaborated to issue the "JASON" token, rapper Waka Flocka Flame launched the "FLOCKA" coin, and Australian musician Iggy Azalea also issued the "MOTHER" token.

Among the aforementioned celebrity coins, aside from "TRUMP Coin," which occasionally experiences short-term spikes due to Trump's actions, the other coins have long since disappeared.

It is undeniable that the rise of celebrity tokens has brought short-term attention to the cryptocurrency market, but in the long run, their negative effects seem more pronounced.

Firstly, celebrity tokens often lack practical application scenarios, with prices highly dependent on celebrity effects and social media hype, leading to extreme market volatility; additionally, the rapid rise of celebrity tokens has led the public to misunderstand the crypto market, believing that investing in digital currencies can profit from "celebrity effects," while ignoring risks and fundamental analysis; finally, the lack of regulation and legal gaps make celebrity token projects easy tools for market manipulation. For example, Logan Paul's CryptoZoo project was accused of being a "rug pull" scam, and although he has begun partial refunds, he still faces a class-action lawsuit, highlighting the industry's regulatory shortcomings.

YZY is still in its early stages, and whether it can achieve real success in the future remains uncertain. If the project lacks practical application scenarios, YZY is likely to become just another speculative meme coin, ultimately drowned out by the countless tokens in the market. For investors, it is crucial to remain rational, avoid blindly following hype, and focus on projects with long-term practical value for stable investment.

Related: Bitcoin (BTC) whales reduce holdings by $76 million, shifting to Ethereum (ETH) bullish positions.

Original article: “From Yeezys to YZY Coin: Kanye's Upgraded Exploitation Game”

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