Kanye West YZY Meme Coin Pump-and-Dump, 51,000 Traders Lose $74 Million

Within a week of Kanye West launching his YZY meme coin on Solana SOL $213.8 24h volatility: 4.7% Market cap: $115.36 B Vol. 24h: $13.92 B blockchain, over 51,000 traders have lost a total of $74 million.

This marks another pump-and-dump involving celebrity tokens, trapping retail investors.

Kanye West’s YZY Meme Coin Traps Several Traders

The Kanye West-associated YZY token debuted on the Solana blockchain on August 21, surging 1,400% within its first hour of trading before plunging over 80% in value.

Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps reported that out of 70,200 traders who bought the token, more than 51,800 incurred losses, including three traders who each lost over $1 million.

Similarly, more than 100 traders lost a total of over $100K during this period. Interestingly, there were 11 wallets that made more than $1 million in this process.

The YZY meme coin has fallen more than 80% from its peak and is currently trading at $0.5515, with just 19,531 holders, according to blockchain analytics firm Nansen.

Among the speculators was former kickboxing champion Andrew Tate, who took a 3x leveraged short position on YZY, resulting in a $700,000 loss on a Hyperliquid account linked to him.

Could the MELANIA Meme Coin Creator Be a YZY Insider?

After the YZY meme coin pump-and-dump, the blockchain analytics platform identified Hayden Davies, co-creator of the Official Melania Meme MELANIA $0.21 24h volatility: 1.4% Market cap: $150.41 M Vol. 24h: $6.37 M and the Libra token, as a possible insider.

Davies regained access to his funds on August 21 after a judge lifted the freeze on $57.6 million in USDC stablecoins linked to the Libra token scandal. The YZY launch saw several insider-linked wallets profit immediately, continuing a pattern of recurring early buys in celebrity token launches.

Despite driving short-term retail interest, most celebrity-endorsed cryptocurrencies struggle to maintain momentum and fail to reach large-cap status.

In June 2024 alone, more than 30 celebrity-backed tokens launched on Solana, with prices dropping by at least 73.23% since their debut.

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