Kanye West's Crypto U-Turn: Token Odds Plummet, Memecoins Crash

Kanye West, the renowned rapper and entrepreneur, has sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency world with his recent social media posts. In a surprising turn of events, West announced that he will not be launching a cryptocurrency, stating that such ventures "prey on fans." This declaration has led to a significant decline in the perceived odds of a Kanye-backed token launch and a drop in the value of altcoins associated with the speculation.

The perceived odds of Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, launching a token have plummeted after he posted on social media that he is “not doing a coin” in a post where he added that “coins prey on the fans with hype.” This announcement saw the perceived odds of Kanye launching a token this month, which at one point reached 40% on the popular prediction market Polymarket, plunge to around 10% as traders reacted to it.

Various memecoins, called "Ye," have popped up since the rapper started the conversation about crypto on social media, in anticipation that the rapper is going to launch a token. However, after the denial, these have seen their value plunge. One of the tokens has lost more than 65% of its value since the rapper’s post, while a second one is down 89%, according to Dexscreener data.

Ye’s post, in which he said he only does things he is “passionate and knowledgeable about” while being “too rich to do anything else,” came after a previous one in which the rapper said he turned down a $2 million offer to launch his own token. After his posts, the rapper appeared to want to get in touch with Coinbase’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, in a cryptic post.