Here’s What Happened in 24 Hours of Kanye’s YZY Token Launch: Pump, Dump, and Pure Chaos

Popular American rapper and singer Ye (Kanye West) has officially launched his YZY token with massive hype. Although the singer has hinted at the potential launch, the expectation was fading over months of waiting, but it finally happened this August. Notably, the hype pumped the token right after launch, but soon it came crashing down,  similar to many other celebrities’ cryptos.

From Rumors to Launch: YZY Token is Now Live

Before the launch, rumors began to circulate in the crypto space that Kanye West (Ye) would launch a crypto. More specifically, reports emerged on the launch of the YZY meme coin token, whose alleged structure led to skepticism; 70% supply allocated to Ye, 20% to investors, and 10% reserved for liquidity.

Before Kanye could get to the launch, scammers created multiple fake YZY tokens on Pump.Fun where many ended in rug-pulls. Notably, just days before that, Ye himself called “coins prey on the fans with hype,” but he eventually launched on August 21.

Kanye’s X account made the official announcement and unveiled ‘YZY Money,’ calling it the new blockchain-based company. It’s reported that the crypto coin is designed to support YePay and YZY cards, plus the ecosystem they are creating will challenge the TradFi, reduce transaction fees, and more.

However, unusual trading activity and insiders caused chaos in just 24 hours of launch.

24 Hours of YZY Token and the Chaos Around It

CoinGape experts note that within 40 minutes of the YZY Money token launch, its market cap soared to $3 billion, a major milestone. However, it soon collapsed amid the investors’ profit-taking and insider activity. Within hours, it crashed 2/3rd of the initial price, putting hundreds of investors at a loss.

Experts like Arthur Hayes have commented on Kanye’s token launch, adding that “Pls don’t rug me Ye.” Many others had similar concerns, considering the rug pull cases with the celebrities’ crypto, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s TRUMP.

All coins launched on Solana by rappers have gone to absolute ZERO

Have no doubt the same will happen to $YZY coin.

If you buy things like this, you deserve to lose money. pic.twitter.com/2C0z9LzXW7

— nxxn (@sol_nxxn) August 21, 2025

Experts also note that many of these insiders were linked to LIBRA and TRUMP Token. Bubblemaps adds that the first buyer of the YZY token is Naseem, the trader who made $100M on TRUMP, creating suspicion on his early buys. Other parties similarly interacted with the contract address even before the public release.

While the sniper benefited, as one wallet alone controlled 87% of the supply, and collectively they had 94% of the supply, regular investors struggled. Lookonchain noted one wallet lost $1.8 million while another lost $500k in 2 hours, and the list continues.

The concern grew further when people noted Ye and his team celebrating on insider moves.

So the guy who is behind $YZY token is publicly bragging about insider trading and rugging for MILLIONS of dollars on his IG 🤯 pic.twitter.com/iba5ndGsoP

— Gordon (@AltcoinGordon) August 21, 2025

In just 24 hours, Kanye’s token went from the all-time high of $3.16 to the all-time low of $0.7713. Currently, it is trading at $0.7722 with $231.66M in market capitalization. Notably, its trading volume has decreased 85% to $147.78M, showcasing a decline in investors’ interest over the insider activity and price crash.