Has the Kanye token YZY shattered the celebrity token myth? No "ordinary" winners among the top 1,000 holders, whales exit quickly but end up stuck at the peak

Author: Frank, PANews

 

The celebrity coin sector is once again making waves. Globally influential yet highly controversial artist Kanye West made a sudden announcement on August 21 about launching his personal MEME token YZY, which saw its market cap surge to over 3 billions USD in a short period. Within just a few hours, some early movers made millions of dollars in profit, while many others rushed in only to be left holding the bag at the top.

PANews conducted an analysis of the initial buy and sell actions of the top 1000 YZY holders. This time, the issuance of YZY seems to have completely torn apart the illusory link between celebrity token launches and wealth creation stories. Front-running and bots reaped all the profits, leaving no "ordinary" winners in this celebrity coin game.

Whales Accelerate Entry but Still Get Trapped at the Top

Looking at the overall data, the average initial purchase price for the top 1000 YZY holding addresses was about $1.45. A large number of whales bought in at prices between $1.8 and $2, with about 44% of whales' initial purchase costs falling within this range. Perhaps because they were trapped as soon as they bought in, as of August 25, most whales had not made their first sale, with only about 275 out of 893 addresses selling part of their tokens, accounting for just around 30%.

In terms of timing, these whales did not enter late. Most of them bought in on August 21 (the day the token went public), and the timing was concentrated within one hour after Kanye's announcement. More than half of the addresses bought in within two hours after the token opened for trading.

 

In terms of capital size, the average initial investment by these whales was about $285,000. This figure is much higher than the average of $9,696 for the top 1,000 Libra addresses, but much lower than the $590,000 average buy-in for the top 1,000 TRUMP token holders at the time. Overall, these whales held a total of about $46.76 million (excluding team-held tokens), accounting for about 8.5% of the total market cap and about 65.3% of the total circulating supply.

Looking at the selling results, although only some whales sold, the data shows that those who exited generally did so at a loss. The average initial selling price was $1.19, compared to the average entry price of $1.45, representing an average loss of about 18%. Additionally, the average position sold was much smaller than the entry position, at only $11,800.

From this perspective, the main participants in YZY this time seem to be whales who are enthusiastic about celebrity coins, rather than retail investors. Compared to previous TRUMP and LIBRA tokens, these whales entered even faster and concentrated at the very beginning of trading. However, subsequent market recognition seemed insufficient. By August 22, even though YZY's price had fallen to less than half of the whales' initial buy-in price, only a few whales chose to enter at this stage.

Front-Running and Bots: A Game of Harvesting

The whale with the largest single purchase was the address ANGuXwT18StoX2Ghp3387x6vajPk3sEsxC89LngV5F5r, which spent $200,000 to buy 695,000 tokens at an average price of about $0.287 within one minute after Kanye announced the address. To complete this purchase, the address not only set a 40% slippage but also paid an additional 3.8 SOL to Jtio as a priority fee.

Of course, half an hour later, this address sold for $1.82 million, making a profit of over $1.6 million.

Notably, this address is also considered by the community to be part of an insider group. Judging from its actions, this is indeed possible: the address was created on August 19 (the same day YZY was created), then withdrew about $200,000 USDT and 49 SOL from Binance. After that, the address did not trade any other MEME coins until YZY went live. Clearly, this address was created specifically to ambush the YZY token.

Among the sample statistics, four addresses bought YZY within one minute after trading opened. There were also skilled bot operators, such as address 6xuMV6W6QVxrVmsZxEdLfV6kfhuBsg3ah1X8rydLfQvy, which invested 300 SOL to buy YZY within two minutes after trading began, ultimately making about $80,000 in profit. Judging from its trading behavior, this address frequently trades MEME tokens and has made over 10,000 trades to date.

In addition, according to an investigation by Bubblemaps, Hayden Davis—who previously orchestrated and sniped celebrity coins like MELANIA and LIBRA—struck again this time. By dispersing funds through multiple centralized exchange addresses and sniping YZY at the first opportunity, he ultimately made about $12 million in profit.

The Celebrity Coin Myth Shattered

Over the past year, since Trump launched TRUMP, the celebrity coin sector has seen a period of concentrated issuance. However, the results show that these celebrity tokens have generally dropped by more than 90%, causing significant harm to investors.

As of now, TRUMP's circulating market cap is about $1.65 billion, down about 90% from its peak. The First Lady's token MELANIA has a circulating market cap of about $148 million, down about 99% from its peak. The token LIBRA, issued by the President of Argentina, has a market cap of only $5.4 million, evaporating 99.9% from its peak of $4.7 billion. The price trajectory of these tokens is the same L-shape: after an initial peak post-launch, there is no more excitement, only a steady decline.

As for the newly issued YZY, the number of holding addresses—27,000—is far less than the previous celebrity coins. On the other hand, the high entry cost for whales (over $1.8) and the lack of new entrants have made it exponentially harder to profit from early moves. Looking at the K-line, almost all whales who failed to enter within the first 10 minutes were left at the very top, and the price dropped rapidly—falling 70% from its peak in just two hours. This kind of drop and speed is even more dramatic than some MEME coins with no background.

Early YZY price chart

Looking back at the many celebrity coins from TRUMP to YZY, we can clearly see a similar trajectory:

Blitzkrieg and Head Effect: The launch of celebrity coins relies on the massive influence of the celebrity, instantly attracting global attention and capital. This leads to a price surge at the opening, creating astonishing profit opportunities for a very small number of "insiders" or "front-running experts." They use information advantages and technical means to harvest profits before retail investors can enter.

Whales Take Over and Retail Confusion: Unlike ordinary MEME coins, the second wave of participants in celebrity coins is often well-funded whales. They may have missed the initial golden minute, but driven by superstition in celebrity effects and gambler's mentality, they buy in at high prices. However, once the hype cannot be sustained and follow-up capital fails to materialize, these whales, along with the retail investors who followed the trend, are left trapped.

Value Vacuum and L-Shaped Trend: Stripping away the celebrity aura, these tokens have almost no real value or application scenarios to support them. When the hype fades and market sentiment cools rapidly, prices "free fall," ultimately forming an ugly "L"-shaped K-line. The myth of skyrocketing prices exists only in the first few minutes or hours, followed by a long road to zero. From TRUMP to LIBRA to YZY, this "iron law" has been proven without exception.

The YZY frenzy once again proves that the celebrity coin sector is not a blue ocean of value, but a dangerous casino manipulated by information asymmetry and market sentiment.

In this game, the real winners are always those insiders and capital hunters who can position themselves early and harvest precisely. For the vast majority of ordinary investors, by the time they see the news on social media, they are already standing at the peak of risk. The rapid rise and sudden cooling of YZY has once again sounded the alarm for the frenzied MEME market: under the halo of celebrities, what often lurks is an investment abyss that ordinary people can hardly bear.

When the next "Kanye" appears, investors might want to ask themselves first: do they want to be the fuel for someone else's wealth myth, or choose to stay away from a carnival destined for the profit of a few.