Kanye West is rumored to be launching a memecoin

Rapper Ye is reportedly preparing to launch his own coin called YZY.

Rapper Ye, previously known as Kanye West, is launching his own coin YZY to be used as the official currency for his Yeezy clothing brand, according to a Feb. 21 report by Coindesk.

CoinDesk obtained the information from an email addressed from Hussein Lalani, who claimed to be the chief financial officer of Yeezy. Lalani sent an unsolicited document outlining the token’s launch and asked CoinDesk to withhold publication under an “embargo.”

However, CoinDesk declined the embargo, and the document was later verified by three undisclosed sources close to the project. According to one of them, the token’s release was initially set for Thursday but it has been delayed to Friday.

According to the unsolicited YZY press release, the YZY token distribution will see 70% of the total supply reserved for Ye, with the remaining 30% split between 10% for liquidity and 20% for investors. Ye’s portion of the token will be distributed through a multi-phase vesting schedule, with some coins being locked for up to 12 months, meaning they cannot be sold until that time. Despite the vesting schedule, concerns have still been raised over the amount allocated to Ye compared to the share given to investors.

The move is meant to help Ye rebuild his income after losing partnerships with companies like Adidas and Shopify after his antisemitic comments. Ye has recently faced backlash for his controversial remarks, which led to several major brands severing ties with him. Most recently, e-commerce company Shopify shut down his store in response to his hateful rhetoric. In 2022, Ye los partnerships with Adidas, Balenciaga, and his talent agency after a series of antisemitic remarks, such as praising Adolf Hitler in a live interview and sharing provocative posts about Jewish people and other groups on social media.

The rapper hinted at the launch of his own coin when he had attempted to reach out to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. However, he later posted that he wasn’t launching any coins, despite being offered $2 million to do so because “Coins prey on the fans with hype.”