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…
