An on-chain investigation by the pseudonymous analyst Dethective has connected a wallet that purchased the Kanye West-themed token YZY to a group of wallets associated with the LIBRA token, implying that the same operator leveraged insider knowledge to extract tens of millions of dollars.
In a series of X posts on Thursday, Dethective disclosed that a YZY sniper wallet acquired $250,000 worth of tokens at just $0.20, significantly lower than the price most traders paid. Within minutes, the wallet generated over $1 million in profit, which was subsequently transferred into a treasury wallet.
This same treasury wallet had also received substantial sums from wallets linked to LIBRA’s launch six months prior. Two “Libra sniper” wallets collectively extracted $21 million. In total, nearly $23 million was drawn from the YZY and LIBRA launches, with funds later transferred to Kamino or Binance.
“It’s evident that this is someone with clear insider information,” Dethective remarked. “The evidence lies in the fact that they did not snipe any other coin besides $YZY and $LIBRA and came prepared with substantial amounts,” they noted.
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Nansen, Cyvers confirm connection
On-chain analytics platform Nansen and blockchain security firm Cyvers have also validated the link between the YZY sniper wallet and the wallets associated with the LIBRA extraction network.
“The YZY launch sniper wallet overlaps with the LIBRA extraction flow wallets,” Cyvers stated to Cointelegraph. “This indicates that the same actor (or a closely coordinated group) is involved in both occurrences,” they added.
Meanwhile, Nansen mentioned they cannot confirm whether it is connected to Hayden Davis, the controversial figure behind the LIBRA token. “It’s also open to debate what the insider information is and whether it constitutes insider trading,” they noted.
Nansen pointed out that the infamous sniper Naseem, who profited millions from the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin, was also one of the earliest buyers of YZY using a wallet previously funded by TRUMP profits. While Naseem claimed that the advantage came from identifying the liquidity pool early, it remains uncertain whether this is merely astute trading or part of a larger trend during the ongoing “crime season.”
Related: Judge unfreezes $57M in stablecoins linked to Libra token scandal
Kanye West’s YZY token soars to $3 billion
On Thursday, Ye launched his YZY token on Solana, which surged to a $3 billion market cap within 40 minutes before declining to approximately $1.05 billion.
At the time of writing, YZY was trading at around $1, down over 60% from the previous day. The token reached an all-time high of $3.16 about 11 hours earlier, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
West announced the token on X, describing it as part of “A NEW ECONOMY, BUILT ON CHAIN,” with YZY intended to facilitate transactions within his proposed “YZY MONEY” system.
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