Can you buy Yeezy products using Kanye West's 'YZY Coin'? Details explored

Kanye West, now officially known as Ye, launched his cryptocurrency on Wednesday, August 20, 2025. Called YZY Coin, or Yeezy Money, the project was unveiled on the Solana blockchain through Ye’s X account announcement.

In a follow-up video post, as reported by Billboard on August 21, 2025, he added:

“The official Yeezy token just dropped.”

The launch sparked immediate trading chaos. According to Wired on August 21, 2025, YZY Coin’s market cap briefly reached $3 billion before collapsing to $1.5 billion within hours.

Blockchain analytics company Nansen reported that while investors placed more than $740 million worth of trades, the majority of traders lost money, collectively losing more than $20 million.

On August 1, 2025, Kanye reportedly announced that people can now purchase items from his YEEZY shop using crypto.

What is Kanye West's YZY Money?

The cryptocurrency is presented as part of a wider financial ecosystem. A website for YZY Money promotes the project as a movement to put financial control in the hands of users, “free from centralized authority.” The platform features:

The YZY token (YZE)
A Ye Pay processor
Spending options with a YZY card
Stablecoin integration with USDC

According to the terms, 20% of the coin’s supply has been released to the public, 10% pooled on exchanges for liquidity, and 70% is locked with Kanye's Yeezy Investments LLC for at least three months.

The Delaware-registered company runs the YZY website under a license from Ox Paha Inc., Kanye West’s IP firm, Wired reported on August 21, 2025. This setup is common in crypto to prevent quick sell-offs, but analysts warn it can be risky when supply is concentrated.

Nicolai Søndergaard of Nansen told Wired,

“Let’s say all tokens unlock in two years, you might not want to be in a token at that point,”

From rejecting crypto to launching his own

Kanye’s crypto debut comes after earlier skepticism. As reported by Wired on August 21, 2025, in February 2025, Ye posted, then deleted, a rejection of coins.

"I’M NOT DOING A COIN. COINS PREY ON THE FANS WITH HYPE.”

This makes his pivot striking. Back in 2020, in a Joe Rogan interview, Kanye West praised Bitcoin innovators for creating “the next frontier of our existence,” linking blockchain to ideas of American and human liberation, as reported by Billboard on August 21, 2025

Still, critics see YZY as part of a broader celebrity token trend. Nansen’s Søndergaard told Wired the debut “seems to insinuate there might have been some, let’s say, possible information leak.”

Others, like Tom, the anonymous leader of crypto exchange Raydium, dismissed the move as recycled hype,

"I have blocked celeb coins out of my daily thoughts … I’ve seen this playbook too many times.”

A risky bet for fans and traders

The fallout has already been harsh. Wired reported that most small investors lost money during the opening frenzy, echoing earlier warnings against celebrity-backed tokens.

Under the Biden administration, celebrities, including Kanye's ex-wife Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, and Ne-Yo, faced SEC charges for allegedly touting crypto unlawfully. Each settled without admitting wrongdoing.

The sudden arrival of YZY recalls Donald Trump’s $TRUMP coin launch in January 2025, which was also announced abruptly, dominated by insider trades, and left retail investors with losses. Analysts argue Kanye West may be following that same playbook.

About the author

Devangee Halder is a Food and Pop culture writer at Sportskeeda. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and a Master's Degree in International Studies. A bibliophile and foodie, her academic background, with the intersection of history and cultural studies, has deepened her love for reading and writing.

With over a year of experience, including an internship at Indian Express, which she landed through correspondence with editor Raj Kumar Jha, she transitioned into her current role at this company. As a journalist covering gastronomic trends and other news from the F&B Industry, she veers away from prescriptivism, and instead prioritizes questioning of current narratives, and forwarding relevant news, ensuring they are devoid of sensationalism.

Devangee approaches food with an interdisciplinary lens, locating it vis-à-vis areas such as culture, history, memory, and economics, within which culinary traditions found fruition and subsequently flourished. When not working, she enjoys cooking and reading, alongside her newfound interest in weightlifting. Among her favorite personalities are Sarah Todd and Vikas Khanna, and she admires the late chef Jock Zonfrillo for his work on indigenous food habits and ingredients.

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Edited by Divya Singh