What is $YZY – The Meme Coin Launched by Kanye West?

 
On August 21, 2025, American rapper Kanye West (aka Ye) launched a Solana-based token called $YZY, which quickly grabbed the spotlight. At one point, its market cap hit an ATH of over $3B, sparking a wave of FOMO, skepticism, and criticism across the crypto community.
 

1.What Is the $YZY Meme Coin?

YZY is being positioned as the official currency of Yeezy’s ecosystem, enabling users to purchase products directly on the Yeezy website using the token.
Core components of the YZY Money ecosystem include:
  • $YZY: the native crypto token.
  • YE Pay: an e-commerce payment processor.
  • YE Card: a crypto debit card in development, supporting both $YZY and USDC.

2.Key Features of $YZY

Utility: Beyond memes and hype, $YZY is marketed as a practical payment token for Yeezy products. This move also helps Kanye bypass platforms like Shopify, which cut ties with him due to past controversies.
Tokenomics:
  • 70% held by Kanye West himself
  • 20% allocated to investors
  • 10% for liquidity This heavy concentration has raised red flags over potential price manipulation. To address transparency concerns, tokens are locked with a 24-month vesting schedule via Jupiter Lock on Solana.
 
Ecosystem Expansion: Part of the “YZY Money” economy, combining crypto + retail payments through YE Pay (credit card & crypto processor) and YZY Card (spending tool for $YZY/USDC). The pitch: lowering transaction fees for merchants.
Price Action: Within 40 minutes of launch, $YZY skyrocketed +6,800%, hitting a $3B market cap, before crashing back to the $0.8–1B range amid on-chain evidence of possible insider trading. Currently listed on DEXs like Meteora and CEXs like MEXC, with YZY/USDC pairs seeing heavy volume.

3. Risks & Controversies

Centralization – With 70% supply controlled by Kanye, $YZY faces accusations of being too centralized, leaving retail vulnerable.
Insider Trading – On-chain data flagged suspicious wallet activity before the crash.
Reputation Risks – Kanye’s history of antisemitic remarks and ties to extremist narratives casts a long shadow over the project’s sustainability.
Memecoin Risks – As with most memecoins, price is largely driven by hype. Past celebrity memecoins (e.g., Argentina’s $LIBRA) have collapsed after launch, leaving bagholders behind.

4. Comparisons with Other Political/Celebrity Memecoins

  • $TRUMP & $LIBRA had similar concentrated allocations (~80% insider-owned) and saw explosive runs before sharp corrections.
  • $LIBRA became the center of a major scandal in Argentina and is now under legal investigation.
  • Unlike them, $YZY is being marketed with real-world payment utility via the Yeezy brand.

5. Key Takeaways for Investors

High Risk: $YZY is extremely volatile and prone to rug-pull or manipulation scenarios. DYOR and use on-chain safety tools.
Market Sentiment: Currently leaning bearish due to centralization concerns and parallels with failed memecoins.
Adoption Factor: Long-term survival depends on whether Yeezy fans actually use $YZY for payments, not just speculation.
Trading Status: Listed on MEXC, Hyperliquid, and several Solana DEXs, with derivatives (x3 leverage) already available.
 

Conclusion

$YZY is an ambitious attempt at merging celebrity culture, payments, and crypto, but comes with serious risks: high centralization, Kanye’s controversial track record, and the pump-and-dump nature of memecoins. While the project tries to position itself beyond hype by tying into the Yeezy ecosystem, whether it can sustain momentum remains an open question.
 
Disclaimer: This article does not provide investment, tax, legal, financial, or accounting advice. MEXC Learn shares information for educational purposes only. Always understand the risks and invest responsibly.
 
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Latest Updates on YZY

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Data: ZRO, YZY, ZK and other tokens will see a large unlock next week, with ZRO unlocking value estimated at approximately $38.3 million.

Data: ZRO, YZY, ZK and other tokens will see a large unlock next week, with ZRO unlocking value estimated at approximately $38.3 million.

PANews reported on November 16th that, according to data from Token Unlocks, ZRO, YZY, ZK, and other tokens will undergo large-scale unlocking next week, including: LayerZero (ZRO) will unlock approximately 25.71 million tokens at 7 PM Beijing time on November 20th, representing 7.29% of the current circulating supply, with a value of approximately $38.3 million. YZY (YZY) will unlock approximately 37.5 million tokens at 1 PM Beijing time on November 19th, representing 12.50% of the current circulating supply, with a value of approximately $14.1 million. ZKsync (ZK) will unlock approximately 173 million tokens at 4 PM Beijing time on November 17th, representing 3.37% of the current circulating supply, with a value of approximately $9 million. KAITO will unlock approximately 8.35 million tokens at 8 PM Beijing time on November 20th, representing 2.97% of the current circulating supply, with a value of approximately $6.4 million. ApeCoin (APE) will unlock approximately 15.6 million tokens at 8:30 PM Beijing time on November 17th, representing 1.66% of the current circulating supply, with a value of approximately $5.5 million.
2025/11/16
ZRO, SOON, and YZY Lead Major Token Unlocks This Week

ZRO, SOON, and YZY Lead Major Token Unlocks This Week

The post ZRO, SOON, and YZY Lead Major Token Unlocks This Week appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Millions of tokens will enter the crypto market this week. Notably, three major ecosystems, LayerZero (ZRO), SOON (SOON), and YZY (YZY) will release previously locked supply. These unlocks might lead to market volatility and influence price movements in the short term. Here is a breakdown of what to watch for in each project. Sponsored 1. LayerZero (ZRO) Unlock Date: November 20 Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 25.71 million ZRO (2.57% of Total Supply) Current Circulating Supply: 198.25 million ZRO Total Supply: 1 billion ZRO LayerZero is an interoperability protocol designed to connect different blockchains. Its main goal is to enable seamless cross-chain communication so that decentralized applications (dApps) can interact across multiple blockchains without relying on traditional bridging models. The team will release 25.71 million tokens on November 20, valued at around $36.76 million. The stack accounts for 7.29% of the released supply. ZRO Crypto Token Unlock in November. Source: Tokenomist LayerZero will award 13.42 million altcoins to strategic partners. Core contributors will get 10.63 million ZRO. Lastly, 1.67 million ZRO are for tokens repurchased by the team. Sponsored 2. Soon (SOON) Unlock Date: November 23 Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 15.21 million SOON (1.54% of Total Supply) Current Circulating Supply: 281.1 million SOON Total Supply: 984.1 million SOON SOON is a high-performance Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) Rollup, designed to implement the Super Adoption Stack. It includes three main components: SOON Mainnet, SOON Stack, and InterSOON. The network will unlock 15.21 million SOON on November 23. The stack represents 4.33% of the released supply and is worth $28.29 million. Sponsored SOON Crypto Token Unlock in November. Source: Tokenomist SOON will keep 8.3 million tokens for an airdrop to non-fungible token (NFT) holders. The team will also award 4.17 million coins to the ecosystem. Furthermore, it will allocate 2.22…
2025/11/17
Data: ZRO, YZY, and other tokens will see a large unlocking next week, with ZRO unlocking value estimated at approximately $49.1 million.

Data: ZRO, YZY, and other tokens will see a large unlocking next week, with ZRO unlocking value estimated at approximately $49.1 million.

PANews reported on February 15th that, according to Token Unlocks data, ZRO, YZY, ARB, and other tokens will see large-scale unlocking next week, including: LayerZero
2026/02/15
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