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Kanye West continued his controversy-filled era with his YZY token launch on Solana this week, where trading activity drove its market capitalization near $3 billion before collapsing within hours.
The token, listed under multiple pool tickers on Raydium, initially saw rapid inflows that pushed its fully diluted valuation into multibillion territory before prices retreated more than 90%, leaving its capitalization closer to $137 million.
The pace of YZY’s ascent and reversal mirrored past episodes in the Solana ecosystem where memecoins generated substantial liquidity in compressed windows. As Barron’s noted, the debut quickly shifted discussion toward whether these launches, often tied to well-known public figures, warrant more oversight as traders with early access capture profits at the expense of late entrants.
On-chain monitors cited wallets that accumulated large allocations at market open. Independent analysis from Conor Grogan estimated that as much as 94% of the initial supply was controlled by insiders, including a single multisig wallet that at one point held 87% of the tokens before dispersing.
Fee structures added another layer to the controversy. As one trader posting under the handle 0xBiZzy observed, the YZY pool was configured with a 1% base fee and dynamic adjustments that quickly moved to 2.68%, combined with a wider bin step that introduced another 4 to 5 percent of slippage.
The effect left some participants facing an estimated 10% round-trip cost to enter and exit positions. Despite these costs, volume surged in the first hours of trading, producing more than $9 million in collected fees for the pool’s operators, according to the same account.
Market activity revealed uneven outcomes for traders. Lookonchain tracked one whale wallet that spent 1.55 million USDC to purchase just under one million YZY tokens at $1.56, only to sell them two hours later at $1.06 for 1.05 million USDC, realizing a loss of half a million dollars. Similar trades rippled across Raydium as YZY’s price cascaded from its initial surge to near $1.
The launch also revived scrutiny of West’s shifting stance toward celebrity coins. Earlier this year he said such projects exploit fan communities, even as plans reported by The Block outlined an allocation in which 70% of YZY supply would be retained by West himself.
That structure and the concentration of insider holdings observed on-chain deepened criticism that retail participants were structurally disadvantaged. The sharp decline only amplified that narrative as many wallets were left with steep losses within hours of trading.
During the Trump token surge earlier in 2025, Solana DEXs processed more than $27 billion in daily trades, showing how quickly speculation can flow through the network. YZY extended that pattern, briefly boosting Solana’s on-chain activity even as its trajectory resembled earlier boom-and-bust cycles.
The YZY episode concentrated multiple themes in one launch: rapid capitalization driven by celebrity branding, heavy insider positioning, costly fee mechanics, and the quick reversal that left many late entrants with losses.
For Solana, the event once again highlighted that memecoins remain a key driver of volume, even as questions over transparency and fairness continue to mount.
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