Kanye West Meme Coin Plunges 81% From Peak as Rapper Claims Instagram Hack Fueled Scam
Another day, another crypto carnage story—this time with a celebrity twist.
Kanye's Token Tumbles
The so-called 'Kanye West meme coin' isn't just dipping—it's in freefall. Down a staggering 81% from its all-time high. That’s not a correction; that’s a bloodbath. And the timing? Suspiciously aligned with the rapper's recent Instagram breach.
Hack or Hype?
West himself claims hackers took over his account to promote the token scam. Because nothing says 'secure investment' like a celebrity disavowing his own digital asset. The incident highlights the brutal reality of meme coins: when the hype dies, only bagholders remain.
Welcome to crypto—where even your favorite artist's token can rug-pull faster than a dropped microphone.
West’s following of the fake token page alone was enough to send it to around a $7 million market cap at its peak before it came crashing down.
Kanye’s real meme coin was launched last week after months of speculation that a token tied to the rapper was eventually going to debut. The launch sent a handful of unaffiliated Kanye-related tokens plummeting, dropping as much as 88%.
But the real Kanye token hasn’t performed particularly well either since its launch. After storming out of the gate to a nearly $3 billion fully diluted value (FDV), YZY is down nearly 81% and sitting just above a $565 million FDV. The current market cap is barely $73.5 million, as of this writing.
Despite its lack of overwhelming success among traders, insiders and other early investors benefited heavily from the token launch, including around $12 million of profits tied to Hayden Davis—one of the individuals behind the controversial Libra meme coin launch that was promoted by Argentine president Javier Milei in February.
As of 2:18p.m. ET, Kanye’s Instagram was no longer following the “yzytoken” page that had promoted the fake coin.
