This weekend, controversial rapper Kanye West (Ye) announced the launch of a cryptocurrency called “YZY Money” on the Solana network. The apparent popularity of this operation raises many questions about possible insiders, given the already significant losses for some of its holders.
Kanye West’s cryptocurrency (YZY) exceeds $3 billion in market capitalization
The case might have seemed trivial if it had taken place at the height of the celebrity cryptocurrency craze, more commonly known as social tokens. This was a way of promising a community of fans that they would share in the success of their idols, only to find themselves facing losses of around 99%.
This is a well-known and widely recognized practice, and controversial rapper Kanye West announced the launch of his YZY token on the Solana network this weekend. However, in just a few hours, its overall valuation exceeded $3 billion, with a record unit price briefly reaching nearly $3.
At the time of writing, the price of the YZY token is down more than 70% from its peak, with a price of around $0.80. This situation is highlighted by a graph from the Dune Analytics website, and the results are not good for its holders.
According to available data, a total of 64,450 wallets have purchased YZY tokens. Of these, more than 30% have already recorded losses of up to $500, and one of them has even recorded a loss of more than $1 million.
At the same time, more than 36% of these accounts have not yet sold, while only five wallets show profits of more than $1 million. It seems important to note that 17% of the wallets concerned still made a profit of less than $500.
A pump-and-dump model benefiting insiders?
In any case, the YZY token is now on a downward trend, following what many analysts are already identifying as a classic pump-and-dump scheme. And for good reason: 94% of the available quantity of this token is in the portfolios of insiders involved in the project, 87% of which is in a single portfolio. One of these accounts identified as internal to the project purchased 1.29 million YZY tokens at a price of $0.35, before reselling them a few minutes later for $1.45. This opportunity generated an estimated profit of more than $1.5 million. And this is apparently not the only transaction of its kind. The goal: to cash out as quickly as possible, leaving the market without any liquidity.
And what about the procedure of jointly launching 25 fake addresses for this cryptocurrency in order to avoid sniping procedures? This logic simply allows unscrupulous investors to be swindled with official scams, with damages already estimated at over $700,000.
The analysis site Bubblemaps adds to the cacophony with the discovery of the identity of the very first buyer of YZY tokens. It is believed to be the same trader who also pocketed $1 million in profits on Donald Trump’s memecoin. “Sniper expert or insider?”
