A blockchain investigation by the pseudonymous analyst Dethective connected a wallet that purchased the Kanye West-themed token YZY to another group of wallets associated with the LIBRA token, implying that the same operator profited by tens of millions of dollars utilizing insider information.
In a series of X posts on Thursday, Dethective disclosed that a YZY sniper wallet was able to acquire $250,000 worth of tokens at just $0.20, significantly less than the price most traders paid. Within minutes, the wallet secured over $1 million in profits, which were subsequently transferred to a treasury wallet.
The same treasury wallet had also received large sums from wallets related to LIBRA’s launch six months prior. Two “Libra sniper” wallets collectively made a profit of $21 million. Overall, approximately $23 million was extracted from the YZY and LIBRA launches, with funds later redirected to Kamino or Binance.
“We can be certain this is someone with clear insider information,” Dethective stated. “The evidence is that they did not snipe any coin aside from $YZY and $LIBRA and were prepared with substantial amounts,” they added.
Related: LIBRA token creator contests class-action lawsuit, citing lack of jurisdiction
Nansen and Cyvers validate connection
Onchain analytics platform Nansen and cybersecurity firm Cyvers also confirmed the correlation between the YZY sniper wallet and the wallets associated with the LIBRA extraction network.
“The YZY launch sniper wallet does overlap with the LIBRA extraction flow wallets,” Cyvers informed Cointelegraph. “This indicates that the same actor (or a closely coordinated group) is involved in both scenarios,” they added.
Meanwhile, Nansen acknowledged that they cannot definitively link it to Hayden Davis, the contentious figure behind the LIBRA token. “It’s also always debatable what qualifies as insider information and whether it constitutes insider trading,” they noted.
Nansen further mentioned that notorious sniper Naseem, who profited millions from the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin, was also among the first to acquire YZY using a wallet previously funded with TRUMP profits. While Naseem claimed this advantage came from identifying the liquidity pool early, doubts linger over whether this is merely astute trading or part of a larger trend during the ongoing “crime season.”
Related: Judge lifts freeze on $57M in stablecoins linked to Libra token controversy
Kanye West’s YZY token soars to $3 billion
On Thursday, Ye launched his YZY token on Solana, which soared to a $3 billion market cap within 40 minutes before plunging to approximately $1.05 billion.
At the time of writing, YZY was trading at around $1, down more than 60% in the past day. The token reached an all-time high of $3.16 about 11 hours earlier, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
West introduced the token on X, describing it as part of “A NEW ECONOMY, BUILT ON CHAIN,” with YZY aimed at facilitating transactions within his envisioned “YZY MONEY” system.
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