Ye Rejects $2M Scam Offer, Exposes Celebrity Crypto Fraud

Kanye West, now known as Ye, the renowned rapper and Bitcoin advocate, recently made headlines on X with a series of tweets that shed light on a potential scam involving celebrity accounts and fake Solana meme coins. In a screenshot posted by Ye, an unidentified contact offered him $2 million to promote a fraudulent "ye currency." The deal included an upfront payment of $750,000, with the remaining $1.25 million to be disbursed 16 hours after the post went live on X. The contact also instructed Ye to claim his account was hacked after the promotional post had been active for eight hours.

Ye declined the offer, stating that he would not "scam my community." However, his post raised questions about the authenticity of previous X account hacks targeting celebrities, which appeared to follow a similar scheme. This led to speculation that several high-profile accounts may have been compromised to promote Solana meme coins. Last December, Drake's account was hacked to promote a Solana-based memecoin called $ANITA, generating $5 million in trading volume before being exposed and removed.

In addition to exposing the potential scam, Ye also expressed interest in connecting directly with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong "concerning crypto." He posted another screenshot where he was asking someone for a crypto hookup without any middlemen. It turned out that the "crypto connect" he was looking for was Armstrong, and the person he messaged said they would try to get Ye Armstrong's number.

While Ye's tweets sparked conversation and concern within the crypto community, many members warned him about the importance of self-custody through cold wallets and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) as a true alternative to exchanges. Ye's Friday morning flurry of tweets also included numerous antisemitic remarks, praise for Hitler, and false accusations against Elon Musk. This is not the first time Ye has spread hateful rhetoric on the platform, resulting in multiple suspensions, including one in December 2022 for antisemitic content.