Rapper Kanye West, also known as Ye, said he plans to launch a Nazi-themed memecoin, although there are conflicting reports about what the ultimate decision will be.
Amid a series of erratic X posts on Saturday, West said he had branded his planned token “Swasticoin,” after the anti-Semitic symbol the rapper has embraced since proclaiming himself a Nazi. The post has since been deleted.
As recently as late last week, West reportedly planned to introduce a crypto token that would instead be called YZY, according to CoinDesk. The launch never happened.
It's unclear when West's memecoin will launch this week—or whether it ever will.
Coindesk learned of West’s latest project in an email from Hussein Lalani, who has a yeezy.com email address and claimed to be the chief financial officer of West’s company Yeezy. The information in the email was confirmed by three anonymous sources “close to the project,” according to Coindesk.
In recent years, West has made a series of anti-Semitic and otherwise offensive comments, including proclaiming his love for Hitler and saying all racist stereotypes are true. As a result, he's been largely ostracized by mainstream businesses.
Earlier this month, West claimed that he had turned down a $2 million deal to “scam” the public by introducing a “fake ye currency.” However, he did not entirely rule out leading a crypto venture in the future.
With such a coin now possibly in the works, West warned over the weekend against falling for fakes. In recent days, third parties have debuted unofficial West-themed tokens as anticipation builds for the rapper’s new project.
“ALL CURRENT COINS ARE FAKE I’M DROPPING NEXT WEEK,” West said.
In his messages over the weekend, West publicly reached out to two crypto industry leaders for advice about the planned launch of his memecoin, whatever its name may be. Those crypto insiders were Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder of venture capital firm Polychain Capital, and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ.
CZ responded on X that he had sent West a direct message, but a spokesperson for CZ says West never responded and that the two have not been in contact since.
Meanwhile, Carlson-Wee reposted a photo on Saturday of himself with West, with a caption saying “future of finance.” Neither CZ and Carlson-Wee publicly commented on West's self-described plan to launch a Nazi-themed token. Fortune requested comment from Carlson-Wee and West, but received no response.
West’s planned token is intended to serve as an alternative form of payment for merchandise on West’s website, according to Coindesk. Earlier this month,Shopify shut down the rapper’s online store, halting any payments by customers, after he listed a T-shirt branded with a swastika.
Some fear West's planned token could end up being a celebrity memecoin rug pull, in which the organizers artificially inflate the coin's value and quickly sell off their stake for a profit. Alleged recent examples include the Hawk Tuah girl and the $LIBRA disaster involving Argentinian president Javier Milei.
West will reportedly control 70% of his planned token’s supply, giving him huge influence on its price.
Some X users have speculated that West is no longer operating his own X account and has handed over control to a team that will oversee the upcoming token launch, after reports that West sold his account to a memecoin trader for $17 million.
