Written by: Oliver, Mars Finance
On August 21, Beijing time, the token YZY, officially launched by Kanye West (Ye), saw its market value skyrocket, surpassing $3 billion in just one hour after its launch. The market's fervent enthusiasm, combined with public attention from crypto moguls like BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes, transformed YZY from a celebrity project into a phenomenal global financial event.
However, this seemingly overnight explosion is actually a long-awaited, tumultuous 'conspiracy'. To understand today's fervor, we must rewind to the chaotic and pivotal period in early 2025. At that time, rumors circulated about Kanye's imminent issuance of a token, ultimately leading Kanye himself to personally debunk that 'all existing tokens are fake'. This series of actions clearly demonstrates his almost paranoid desire for 'official legitimacy'.
This desire for control is inextricably linked to Kanye's understanding of Meme culture. He is not passively becoming the object of online carnival deconstruction, but is actively striking out to define everything as 'Me me' itself. Issuing an official token that he absolutely controls is the inevitable choice to put this philosophy into practice. Thus, today's explosion is no coincidence.
More importantly, the emergence of YZY is precisely targeted at an extremely stimulus-hungry, dull market. Amid the long-term stagnation of Bitcoin and Ethereum, and the lack of new hotspots in the market, the entire crypto world has fallen into a 'narrative vacuum'. Traders hold funds but cannot find a 'mainline story' to bet on. The arrival of YZY is like a Hollywood superhero blockbuster, instantly igniting everyone's emotions. It fills this vacuum, becoming the only spotlight of market attention, and its explosive success becomes even more inevitable.
Igniting the YZY phenomenon: Two engines and a powerful catalyst
The success of YZY stems from the powerful drive of two core engines, ignited by a key catalyst that has completely sparked trading enthusiasm in the crypto world.
Engine 1: Kanye West — An unmatched cultural gravitational field Kanye is the cultural symbol on this planet that understands how to create and leverage attention the most. His name itself is a super Meme that can instantly penetrate all circles. This 'attention pricing power' injects an initial energy into YZY that no other Meme coin can match.
Engine 2: Solana — The best infrastructure to support nationwide enthusiasm Choosing Solana is the key technical decision for this success. Its extremely low transaction costs and high processing speeds provide a perfect breeding ground for maximum 'nationwide FOMO' (fear of missing out), ensuring that both large and small investors can participate smoothly in this capital feast.
Catalyst: Arthur Hayes — An authoritative signal from 'Savvy Capital' When YZY's price began to soar vertically, Arthur Hayes's public statement became the key catalyst to ignite the second wave of the market. As the most closely watched opinion leader in the crypto world and a barometer of savvy capital, his attention played two essential roles: injecting 'serious trading' genes into the project and amplifying its 'bull market engine' narrative, attracting a massive influx of crypto-native funds.
Amid the frenzy — What story is YZY really 'selling'?
The very naming of the official website money.yeezy.com is highly indicative. Kanye West's ambitions may extend far beyond merely issuing a simple 'fan token' or 'Meme coin'. Given his grand narrative capabilities demonstrated in fashion, music, design, and community building, the ultimate vision of YZY MONEY is likely to become the official digital currency of the future 'Yeezy Empire'.
Potential application scenarios:
Payment for goods and services: YZY may become the only or preferred payment method for purchasing all Yeezy brand products (such as clothing, footwear, music albums), forming a closed commercial loop.
Access to content and experiences: Holding or consuming YZY may serve as a pass for exclusive content, concert tickets, fashion show entry tickets, and other unique experiences.
Community governance and identity symbol: The holding amount of YZY could be linked to status, voting rights, or identity ranking within the community, constructing a token-based digital identity recognition system.
Creator economy platform: Kanye West may use YZY to establish a platform to support and fund artists and creators he appreciates, allowing them to publish works and receive compensation within this ecosystem.
However, building such a massive ecosystem faces enormous challenges. It requires a solid technological infrastructure, clear business logic, compliant legal frameworks, and sustained operational capacity. Currently, the YZY project remains in the conceptual stage in these areas, and its success depends entirely on the long-term execution capabilities of Kanye West's team.
Unlock timeline and selling pressure calculations
Lock-up and linear vesting are commonly used tools in modern crypto projects to stabilize the market and prevent early participants from dumping. However, with YZY's extremely high internal holding ratio, this mechanism resembles a precisely set 'flood release valve'. We can construct a clear timeline to estimate the continuous selling pressure the market will face over the next two years.
The project officially launched at the T+0 time point.
T+3 months:
30% of the tokens from Yeezy Investments LLC begin to unlock.
Unlock rate: 30%/24=1.25% of total supply/month.
Market impact: This is the first wave of large-scale, sustained supply increase. From the 4th month to the 6th month, the market needs to digest this additional supply of 1.25% every month on its own.
T+6 months:
20% of the team's tokens begin to unlock.
Unlock rate: 20%/24≈0.83% of total supply/month.
Market impact: Selling pressure sharply intensifies. From the 7th month to the 12th month, the market will face a combined new supply of 1.25% + 0.83% = 2.08% each month from the company and team. This means that every less than 50 days, an amount equivalent to one-fifth of the project's initial liquidity pool (10%) will be released.
T+12 months:
20% of the ecosystem development fund's tokens begin to unlock.
Unlock rate: 20%/24≈0.83% of total supply/month.
Market impact: Selling pressure peaks. From the 13th month until T+27 months (when the company shares are fully released), the market will face a total of 2.08% + 0.83% = 2.91% of new token supply each month. This is an astonishing number, meaning the market must absorb nearly 3% of total supply in new liquidity every month.
Conclusion: This linear release plan constitutes a clear, predictable, and massive selling pressure timeline lasting two years. Each key unlocking node (3rd, 6th, 12th month) could become a psychological and actual pressure testing point for the market. For any secondary market participant, this timeline is a 'navigational chart' that must be closely monitored, as it clearly marks future 'storm zones'. Any price increase may face strong resistance from the internal unlocking shares.
Multiple parties' perspectives: YZY as seen through different players' eyes
The emergence of YZY is like a giant stone thrown into a lake, creating vastly different ripples in various corners of the industry.
For 'old-school' crypto investors (Bitcoin/Ethereum believers): In their eyes, YZY is an outright 'casino carnival', a dangerous bubble deviating from the mainline of 'technological innovation'. Yet they cannot ignore the immense liquidity and breakout effect brought by YZY. This sentiment is one of disdain and anxiety: disdain for its lack of a technological core, yet anxiety that their steadfast 'value investing' theory seems so powerless in the face of a massive cultural Meme.
For project parties and VCs (venture capital): The success of YZY provides them with a brand new 'marketing bible'. What they see is not a Meme, but the arrival of the 'IP as white paper' era. In the future, the narrative ability and traffic effect of a top IP may outweigh the innovation of the technology itself. This indicates that the investment logic of VCs and the marketing strategies of projects may undergo disruptive changes.
For regulators: YZY is their most troublesome regulatory nightmare. A top celebrity uses a decentralized, global financial network to promote a highly volatile speculative asset to millions of ordinary people. This is almost a blatant challenge to the existing financial consumer protection system. Every rise and fall of YZY accelerates the arrival of the global regulatory crackdown.
Conclusion: Is the era of celebrity Meme coins really coming back?
The answer is almost certain. YZY's success has provided a clear, replicable 'hit formula' for future entrants: top celebrity IP + high-performance public chain + 'Meme + utility narrative' model. Rather than saying Kanye issued a token, it is more accurate to say he completed a successful demonstration of 'cultural asset securitization'.
We can foresee the dawn of a new era led by top celebrities, with grander narratives, more extreme volatility, and more deceptive models. For all market participants, this is both an unprecedented opportunity and a test that requires double caution.
The music in the dance floor is playing passionately, and the YZY carnival attracts everyone's attention. But savvy dancers know full well that they are tiptoeing in the closest spot to the exit.
