The post Ye, Self-Proclaimed ‘Nazi’ Who Said ‘Coins Prey on Fans,’ Plans YZY Token appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

HONG KONG—Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West who has repeatedly called himself a “Nazi” in recent weeks, plans to launch a crypto token, according to three sources close to the project. The token, YZY, is designed to help Ye side-step platforms like Shopify that have cut ties with him in response to his hateful rhetoric. Crypto, with its censorship-resistant ethos, offers Ye an alternative avenue for cashing in on his celebrity status: Seventy percent of the YZY token, named after Ye’s Yeezy clothing brand, will be reserved for Ye personally, with just 10% allocated for liquidity provisioning and 20% for investors. Ye’s foray into crypto comes on the heels of years of public controversy that have strained his business empire. In 2022, Ye was dropped by Adidas, Balenciaga and his talent agency after making a series of antisemitic comments, including praising Adolf Hitler in a live interview and tweeting inflammatory rhetoric about Jewish people and other groups. The fallout continued this year when Ye, after again calling himself a Nazi on X, listed a T-shirt bearing a swastika on the Yeezy website, leading e-commerce platform Shopify to shut down his online store. YZY is being packaged as the official currency of Yeezy and will be accepted as payment on his website. CoinDesk learned about the token through an email from Hussein Lalani, a person with a yeezy.com email address who identified himself as Yeezy’s chief financial officer. After sending a document describing the token unsolicited, Lalani requested that CoinDesk hold off on publication and agree to an “embargo.” CoinDesk did not agree to the embargo, and three sources close to the project authenticated the document. Lalani did not respond to further requests for comment. The YZY token was initially set to go for sale on Yeezy’s website on…

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Filed under: News - @ February 21, 2025 9:20 am