Written by: Frank, PANews
The celebrity coin sector has stirred again, as the globally influential yet controversial artist Kanye West suddenly announced the release of his personal MEME token YZY on August 21, which quickly surged to a market value of over $3 billion. Within just a few hours, some profited millions by getting in early, while many others rushed in only to find themselves stuck at the peak.
PANews conducted an analysis of the initial trades of the top 1,000 holders of YZY. This time, the issuance of YZY seems to have completely ripped away the illusory link between celebrity coin issuance and wealth stories. Insider trading and bots profited, leaving no "civilian" winners in this game of celebrity coins.
Large Investors Entering but Still Stuck at the Peak
From the overall data, the average initial purchase price for the top 1,000 YZY holding addresses was approximately $1.45. A significant number of large investors entered at a price range of about $1.8 to $2, with around 44% of them making their initial purchases within this range. Perhaps due to being trapped immediately after buying, most large holders had not sold any tokens by August 25, with only about 275 out of 893 addresses selling a portion of their tokens, resulting in a sell-off rate of only around 30%.
From a timing perspective, these large investors did not enter late. Most purchases were concentrated on August 21 (the day the token was made public), particularly within the first hour after Kanye's announcement. More than half of the addresses bought in within 2 hours of the token's launch.
In terms of capital scale, the average initial investment amount for these large holders was about $285,000. This figure is significantly higher than the average of $9,696 for the top 1,000 addresses of Libra, but much lower than the average purchase of $590,000 for the top 1,000 addresses of the TRUMP token. Overall, these large holders had a total holding of about $46.76 million (excluding team holdings), accounting for approximately 8.5% of the total market value and about 65.3% of the total circulation.
From the selling results, although only a portion of large holders executed sell orders, the data indicates that those who exited were generally at a loss. The average initial selling price was $1.19, representing an average loss of about 18% compared to the average entry price of $1.45. Additionally, the average position sold was significantly lower than the entry, at only $11,800.
From this perspective, the main participants in this YZY event seem to be large holders rather than retail investors. Compared to previous tokens like TRUMP and LIBRA, these large holders entered the market more quickly and concentrated their purchases in the early trading phase. However, the subsequent market recognition appeared insufficient, as by August 22, although YZY's price had already fallen below half of the initial price for large holders, only a few large investors chose to enter at this stage.
Insider Trading and Bots in a Harvesting Game
Among the large investors, the highest single purchase was made by the address ANGuXwT18StoX2Ghp3387x6vajPk3sEsxC89LngV5F5r, which spent $200,000 to buy 695,000 tokens within a minute after Kanye announced the address, with an average price of about $0.287. To complete this purchase, the address set a 40% slippage and additionally paid 3.8 SOL to Jtio as a priority fee.
Ultimately, half an hour later, this address sold for $1.82 million, making a profit of over $1.6 million.
Notably, this address is also considered by the community to be part of an insider group. From the operational behavior, there is indeed a possibility of this; the address was created on August 19 (the same day YZY's token was created) and withdrew about $200,000 in USDT and 49 SOL from Binance. After that, until YZY went live, the address did not engage in any other MEME coin transactions. Clearly, the creation of this address was aimed at ambushing the YZY token.
In the sampled statistics, four addresses bought YZY within one minute of the opening. However, there were also skilled bots that rushed in at the opening, such as the address 6xuMV6W6QVxrVmsZxEdLfV6kfhuBsg3ah1X8rydLfQvy, which invested 300 SOL to buy YZY within 2 minutes of the opening, ultimately profiting about $80,000. From the trading behavior, this address frequently trades MEME tokens, having conducted over 10,000 transactions to date.
Additionally, according to a survey released by Bubblemaps, Hayden Davis, who previously planned and targeted celebrity coins like MELANIA and LIBRA, once again took action, dispersing funds through multiple centralized exchange addresses and targeting the YZY token at the first opportunity, ultimately profiting about $12 million.
The Myth of Celebrity Coins Shattered
Over the past year, following the issuance of TRUMP, the celebrity coin sector entered a phase of concentrated issuance. However, the results show that these celebrity tokens generally experienced declines of over 90%, causing significant harm to investors.
As of now, TRUMP's circulating market value is about $1.65 billion, down approximately 90% from its peak. The circulating market value of the First Lady token MELANIA is about $14.8 million, down about 99% from its peak. The token LIBRA issued by the Argentine president has a market value of only $5.4 million, evaporating 99.9% from its peak market value of $4.7 billion. The trajectories of these tokens all follow the same L shape, peaking shortly after issuance and then declining steadily.
Now, with the issuance of YZY, the number of holding addresses at 27,000 is far less than the previous celebrity coins' popularity. On the other hand, the high cost range of over $1.8 for large holders, combined with the lack of new entrants, significantly increases the difficulty of profiting from early exits. From the K-line perspective, any large holder who failed to enter within 10 minutes was almost left stuck at the peak, and the decline was rapid, dropping 70% from the highest point in just 2 hours. This rate and speed of decline are even more exaggerated than some background-less MEME coins.
Initial YZY Trend Chart
Looking back at the many celebrity coins from TRUMP to YZY, we can clearly see a similar trajectory:
Lightning War and Head Effect: The launch of celebrity coins relies on the immense influence of the celebrities themselves, capable of instantly attracting global attention and funds. This leads to a price surge in the early trading phase, creating astonishing profit opportunities for a very small number of "insiders" or "early runners." They leverage information advantages and technical means to harvest before retail investors enter.
"Large Holders" Taking Over and Retail Investors' Confusion: Unlike ordinary MEME coins, the second wave of main participants in celebrity coins is often wealthy large holders. They may have missed the initial golden minute but, driven by a belief in the celebrity effect and a gambler's mentality, choose to buy in at high prices. However, once the hype cannot be sustained and subsequent funds fail to follow, these large holders find themselves trapped alongside the retail investors who rushed in.
Value Vacuum and L-shaped Trend: Stripped of the celebrity's halo, these tokens have almost no actual value or application scenarios to support them. When the hype subsides and market sentiment cools rapidly, prices will "free fall," ultimately forming an unsightly "L" shaped K-line. The myth of explosive growth exists only in the first few minutes or hours, followed by a long road to value zero. From TRUMP to LIBRA, and now to YZY, this "iron law" has been validated without exception.
The turmoil surrounding YZY once again proves that the celebrity coin sector is not a value blue ocean but a dangerous casino manipulated by information asymmetry and market sentiment.
In this game, the real winners are always those insiders and capital hunters who can layout in advance and harvest precisely. For the vast majority of ordinary investors, when they see news on social media, they often find themselves standing at the highest point of risk. The rapid rise and sudden cooling of YZY serve as another wake-up call for the frenzied MEME market: under the glow of celebrity halos, what often lurks is an investment abyss that ordinary people find hard to bear.
When the next "Kanye" appears, investors might want to ask themselves first whether they want to become fuel for someone else's wealth myth or choose to stay away from this carnival that is destined to profit only a few.
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