worldcoinindex.com
Kanye West has officially entered the cryptocurrency arena with the launch of his Solana-based token, YZY, unveiled late Wednesday on his verified X account.
The post, declaring “a new economy, built on chain,” was followed by a video of West personally confirming the release of what he called the “official Yeezy token.” The move marks West’s first formal crypto venture, after years of speculation and past disputes with unauthorized projects such as “Coinye.”
Momentum was immediate. Within an hour of launch, YZY’s market cap skyrocketed past $3 billion before retracing sharply to under $1 billion, according to on-chain data aggregator Birdeye. Even with the correction, the announcement sent Solana decentralized exchange volumes surging, making YZY one of the most prominent celebrity-backed tokens to date.
The token’s explosive debut eclipsed the early traction seen by similar celebrity-linked coins, including TRUMP, MOTHER, and LIBRA. Currently, YZY is up 375% over the last 24 hours, though short-term volatility has pushed its price down more than 34% in the past hour to $0.99.
For West, who has previously praised Bitcoin and hinted at a pivot into crypto earlier this year, YZY represents his boldest move yet into digital assets—and one that has already left a major mark on the market.