Kanye West’s YZY Memecoin on Solana Surges to $3B Before Crashing Amid Insider Trading Concerns

Kanye West, now officially known as Ye, has made yet another headline-grabbing move, this time in the world of cryptocurrency.

His newly launched memecoin, YZY, built on the Solana blockchain, briefly skyrocketed to a staggering $3 billion market capitalization within 40 minutes of its launch.

But the euphoria didn’t last. Within hours, the token’s value plunged to nearly $1.05 billion, leaving retail investors in shock and sparking renewed debate over insider-driven crypto projects.

The YZY token, positioned as part of a wider ecosystem dubbed “YZY Money” that includes the Ye Pay payment processor and YZY Card for global spending, was promoted as a new financial system “built on crypto rails.” However, the distribution model and trading patterns quickly raised serious concerns.

Insider Frenzy and Liquidity Red Flags

On-chain data revealed that 94% of the YZY token supply was controlled by insiders, with a single wallet holding as much as 87% before dispersal into smaller accounts. The token’s liquidity pool, filled only with YZY tokens and not paired with stablecoins, gave insiders enormous power to adjust liquidity and influence pricing.

Several wallets reportedly profited millions within minutes of the launch. One trader turned a $500,000 investment into $1.77 million in just 10 minutes, while another saw an unrealized gain of $6 million after acquiring 2.67 million tokens for 12,170 SOL.

These trades suggest that some had advance access to the contract address, undermining the fairness of the launch.

Meanwhile, retail investors bore the brunt of the collapse. Reports indicate that over $20 million in collective losses were recorded as the token’s value slid by more than 60%.

Celebrity Coins and Regulatory Scrutiny

Despite the risks, high-profile traders including leverage specialist James Wynn and Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, publicly backed YZY, betting on short-term profits. Wynn even compared YZY to Donald Trump’s $TRUMP token, which quadrupled in value in less than two days earlier this year.

However, the YZY saga mirrors other celebrity-backed tokens like Trump’s $TRUMP and Argentina’s LIBRA, both of which suffered sharp crashes following initial hype. Analysts warn that such projects often rely more on celebrity influence than sustainable tokenomics, exposing retail buyers to disproportionate risk.

Global regulators are beginning to take note. Frameworks such as the EU’s MiCA and the U.S. GENIUS Act are expected to tighten rules around speculative and insider-heavy crypto launches.

For now, the YZY token remains actively traded on major exchanges, but with most investors still at a loss, it serves as yet another cautionary tale in the volatile world of memecoins.