Kanye West’s YZY memecoin plunges  81% from peak leaving over 50K traders in the red

Kanye West’s YZY memecoin has shed 81% of its value from its peak, leaving tens of thousands of retail investors underwater while a handful of wallets captured outsized gains.

YZY (YZY), launched on Solana (SOL) on Aug. 21 as part of West’s “Yeezy Money” ecosystem, was trading at $0.5508 at press time, down 1% in the past day and 52% in the past week. The token is now well below its Aug. 21 all-time high of $2.95, when its market cap briefly topped $3 billion.

YZY’s market capitalization has fallen to $71.6 million, with daily trading volume rising 9% to $36.6 million, indicating a surge in speculative activity despite the drawdown.

YZY memecoin wallet analysis: few winners, many losers

Fresh data shared by the analytics platform Bubblemaps on Aug. 28 shows the scale of the fallout. Out of more than 70,000 wallets that bought into YZY, 51,862 lost between $1 and $1,000, while 5,269 lost $1,000 to $10,000. Another 1,025 wallets were down $10,000 to $100,000, 108 wallets lost $100,000 to $1 million, and 3 wallets were hit with losses exceeding $1 million.

In contrast, just 18,333 wallets came out ahead, collectively earning $66.6 million. But even among winners, most saw modest gains. 15,792 wallets, or 86% of profitable traders, made less than $1,000. Nearly 30% of all profits were captured by just 11 wallets, which together booked more than $1 million each. 

Allegations of manipulation

The uneven distribution of gains has fueled allegations of insider trading and sniping, where bots acquire tokens at launch before retail buyers can enter. Similar to trading patterns observed in other celebrity-backed tokens like Argentina’s LIBRA and Donald Trump’s TRUMP, Bubblemaps revealed wallet clusters that resembled coordinated groups.

Concerns were also raised by YZY’s tokenomics. Analysts noted that liquidity pools were set up in a way that allowed developers to manipulate price action, and that 70–94% of supply is still insider-controlled through Yeezy Investments LLC.

A familiar celebrity memecoin pattern

Given his comments in February calling memecoins “hype-driven scams,” West’s shift to cryptocurrency is remarkable. YZY’s quick ascent and decline are consistent with a trend where celebrity tokens cause retail frenzy but ultimately result in losses for the majority of holders.

As of now, West and his team have not responded to community concerns or insider-trading allegations. No lawsuits have been filed as well.