Key Notes
- High-profile traders, including Andrew Tate, faced major losses, while insider-linked wallets reportedly made millions with YZY meme coin.
- Blockchain analysis flagged recurring insider activity, with figures tied to previous scandals profiting from YZY’s launch.
- Celebrity-endorsed tokens launched over the past year have frequently experienced pump-and-dump schemes.
Within a week of Kanye West launching his YZY meme coin on Solana SOL $213.9 24h volatility: 4.2% Market cap: $115.85 B Vol. 24h: $14.65 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 updated $YZY numbers are worse than we thought
70,000+ total traders
> 51,862 lost $1–$1k
> 5,269 lost $1k–$10k
> 1,025 lost $10k–$100k
> 108 lost $100k–$1M
> 3 lost $1M+Meanwhile, 11 wallets made $1M+ pic.twitter.com/I9ZaBJepAM
— Bubblemaps (@bubblemaps) August 27, 2025
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: 0.3% Market cap: $151.03 M Vol. 24h: $6.18 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.
The past week truly exposed the failures of our industry
Despite our collective efforts as investigators, builders, and communities – the same names keep running the same scams
The playbook is simple:
Infiltrate big launches, get in early, and extract millions
It’s happening…
— Bubblemaps (@bubblemaps) August 27, 2025
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.
