Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps released a report on Aug. 25 alleging that Hayden Davis coordinated a sniping operation on Kanye West’s YZY token that generated $12 million in profits through 14 connected wallets.

The investigation began with a timing analysis showing Davis, also known as Kelsier, received access to $57 million in previously frozen funds, with YZY launching the following day.

Davis has faced previous controversies related to the LIBRA token collapse, where he denied fraud and insider trading accusations.

A US judge unfroze $57.6 million in USDC stablecoins tied to the LIBRA token scandal on Aug. 20, giving Davis and former Meteora DEX CEO Ben Chow access to funds that were frozen in May as part of a class-action lawsuit.

Bubblemaps tracked several addresses funded from centralized exchanges the day before YZY’s launch, discovering a cluster prepared to snipe the token through funding transactions, Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol transfers, and shared deposits linking back to Davis.

The connected wallets purchased YZY tokens as early as 1:54 A.M. UTC, just one minute after the announcement. The firm noted this pattern reflects Davis’s previous involvement in sniping high-profile tokens, including MELANIA and LIBRA.

Bubblemaps said it could not confirm whether Davis had insider information or direct connections to the YZY team, but documented the coordinated purchasing pattern and profit extraction.

The investigation continues as blockchain forensics firms examine celebrity token launches for potential manipulation.

Controversial launch followed by price colapse

YZY’s controversial launch saw trading activity drive its market capitalization near $3 billion before collapsing within hours.

The token initially attracted rapid inflows, pushing its fully diluted valuation into multibillion-dollar territory before prices retreated more than 90%, leaving its capitalization closer to $137 million.

Independent analysis from Conor Grogan estimated that 94% of the initial supply was controlled by insiders, including a single multisig wallet that held 87% of tokens before dispersing.

The YZY pool featured a 1% base fee with dynamic adjustments reaching 2.68%, combined with wider bin steps introducing additional 4-5% slippage, creating estimated 10% round-trip costs for traders.

YZY is down 82% from its all-time high of $3.1633 and was trading at $0.5670 as of press time.

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Former kickboxing champion and controversial influencer Andrew Tate is among the latest celebrities to dive into Kanye West’s newly launched YZY token, but his bets are already deep in the red.

A wallet address linked to Tate opened a 3x leveraged short position on the recently launched, West-linked YZY token at $0.85 and was sitting on a $16,000 loss on the position.

Tate “doesn’t seem to be good at perps trading,” as his cumulative losses are nearing $700,000 on this single Hyperliquid account, wrote blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain in a Friday X post. “So far, he’s made 80 trades on #Hyperliquid — only 29 were profitable (win rate: 36.25%) — with total losses of $699K.”

The YZY token was launched on Solana on Thursday by the rapper, with the top 13 wallets profiting a total of $24.5 million as they dumped the token, which spiked 1,400% within the first hour before dropping over 74% since.

Related: Ether trader nearly wiped out after epic run from $125K to $43M

With growing celebrity interest in cryptocurrencies, more influencers are realizing losses, showing that not all financial advice or investment endorsements should be treated equally. 

The losing trade comes more than a year after Tate was hit by insider trading allegations related to his memecoin, the Daddy Tate (DADDY) token, which saw insiders scoop up 30% of the supply at launch before Tate started promoting the token on X, Cointelegraph reported at the time. 

Related: $1.6B Bitcoin whale shifts another $113M BTC into $240M Ether long

Most Andrew Tate-endorsed memecoins crashed by 99%

Tate joined waves of celebrities who jumped on the Solana memecoin bandwagon on June 7, 2024, endorsing more than 10 tokens known for having no intrinsic value.

Most of the tokens lost around 99% of their value shortly after Tate’s endorsement, with multiple tokens allegedly having up to 30% insider supply allocation, Bubblemaps warned in an X post in October 2024.

These included Roost (ROOST), the Germany Token (GER), Fuck Tristan (FTRISTAN), TopG (TOPG), RNT (RNT) and Daddy Tate (DADDY).

Over 30 celebrity-endorsed tokens launched on Solana in June 2024 and have seen prices fall by no less than 73.23%.

Other celebrities who promoted Solana-based meme tokens include 50 Cent, Caitlyn Jenner, Iggy Azalea and soccer legend Ronaldinho Gaúcho.

UFC contender Khamzat Chimaev-linked Smash (SMASH) token was also hit by insider allegations after it was revealed that up to 78% of the token’s supply was bought by team and developer-related wallets, Cointelegraph reported in July 2024.

Three days after the token launch, Chimaev’s manager, Majdi Shammas, claimed that the martial artist “wasn’t involved” with the SMASH memecoin and “[knows] just as little as you do,” alleging that he promoted the coin without the fighter’s input.

Magazine: Altcoin season 2025 is almost here… but the rules have changed

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