Kanye West's Crypto Adventure.
Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News
On August 21, Beijing time at 09:53, famous rapper Kanye West announced a major message on Twitter, 'YEEZY MONEY IS HERE, A NEW ECONOMY, BUILT ON CHAIN,' declaring the launch of a new project, along with a link to the official website money.yeezy.com. Notably, the accompanying image in his tweet also revealed the contract information for the YZY token for the first time.
Once the news was released, the market value of the YZY token experienced explosive growth, skyrocketing from around $200 million to $3.1 billion, a 14-fold increase, before currently retracting to around $2 billion.
In the early stages of the event, some community members questioned the security of Kanye West's Twitter account, speculating that it might have been hacked. However, as the Moonshot platform officially launched the YZY token, and Kanye West released a video on Twitter confirming the authenticity of YZY, the related controversy gradually subsided.
YZY Token Economics
The core concept of YZY MONEY is to build a financial ecosystem that allows users to control all rights and free themselves from centralized authority, with YZY being the base currency supporting all transactions within that ecosystem.
The economic design of the YZY token is as follows: a total supply of 1 billion tokens, of which 10% will be used to provide liquidity, and 20% will be allocated to public supply.
Yeezy Investments LLC will receive 70% of the token supply and will adopt a phased release mechanism to prevent early sell-offs. The specifics are as follows:
30%: 3-month lock-up period (cliff) + 24-month release (vest)
20%: 6-month lock-up period (cliff) + 24-month release (vest)
20%: 12-month lock-up period (cliff) + 24-month release (vest)
Currently, YZY has opened trading pairs with USDC on the liquidity management platform Meteora within the Solana ecosystem.
The official information shows that the project team has deployed 25 YZY contract addresses, among which only one is a randomly selected official contract. This move reduces the probability of correctly identifying the contract address to 1/25, aiming to effectively guard against sniper attacks. In addition, the project achieves on-chain locking and distribution management of the YZY token through Jupiter Lock.
The Composition System of YZY MONEY
According to the official website, YZY, YE PAY, and YZY CARD are independent entities with different purposes.
Specific positioning is as follows:
YZY is the base currency that supports all transactions within the YZY MONEY ecosystem.
YE PAY is a cryptocurrency payment processor that accepts credit card and cryptocurrency payments.
YZY CARD supports the use of YZY and USDC globally, potentially for consumption within the brand ecosystem.
Risks and Controversies
The YZY token released by Kanye West, as a product of the combination of his personal IP and cryptocurrency, has attracted widespread attention from the market and community. It reflects the influence of celebrity effects in the crypto field, but also hides many controversies and risks.
High Centralization: The distribution structure of the YZY token shows a high concentration of holdings, with Yeezy Investments LLC holding absolute control (70% of the tokens), while liquidity and public supply together account for only 30%.
Ambiguity of Ecosystem Implementation: Although the project has proposed concepts such as 'YZY MONEY financial system,' 'YE PAY,' and 'YZY CARD,' it currently remains at the descriptive stage on the official website, lacking specific technical details, partner information, or an implementation timeline.
Investment Risk: The official website clearly states that YZY is not an investment opportunity or security.
Celebrity IP Driven Market Heat and Short-term Effects: The explosive growth of YZY token market value is primarily driven by Kanye West's global influence. As an iconic figure in both the rap and fashion industries, his personal IP brings in traffic, quickly attracting fans and speculators, creating short-term market heat. However, most past celebrity tokens (like LIBRA) have collapsed after a sudden drop in popularity, and YZY faces similar skepticism.
Kanye's past controversial statements and actions (such as extreme remarks and inconsistent business decisions) add uncertainty to the project.
Kanye West's Connection to Cryptocurrency
Kanye West is not new to the world of cryptocurrency. As early as February 2025, Kanye West announced plans to launch a meme coin named YZY as the official currency of his Yeezy brand.
Later, Kanye West publicly stated that he was learning about Bitcoin from crypto KOL Ansem.
Prior to this, several YZY-related tokens appeared in the community, all regarded as 'community spontaneous tokens' or 'imitations,' and Kanye West's series of actions have officially confirmed the launch of the official version of the YZY token.
At present, YZY is still in its early stages, and its success depends on actual utility (such as payments for Yeezy merchandise), community support, and Ye's execution capability. The long-term value of cryptocurrency projects relies on actual application scenarios; if the ecosystem cannot deliver, the token may become a purely speculative tool. For ordinary investors, it is essential to be cautious of 'fan filters' leading to irrational following, fully recognize the volatility of the cryptocurrency market, and the speculative nature of such projects, and make careful decisions.
