Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, says he rejected a $2 million offer to participate in a crypto scam. The scheme allegedly involved him posting a fraudulent crypto promotion to his 32.6 million followers and claiming his account was hacked hours later. By that point, victims could have already lost significant sums of money.
“I was proposed 2 million dollars to scam my community. Those left of it. I said no and stopped working with their person who proposed it,” West said in a Feb. 7 X post.
West was asked to leave X post up for 8 hours
West included a screenshot in his post revealing how the scam promoting a “fake ye currency” was supposed to unfold.
The offer promised West an upfront payment of $750,000 to share the crypto promotion and keep it live for 8 hours, after which he could claim his account was hacked and that he didn’t make the post.
This would be followed by a $1.25 million payout 16 hours later.
“The company asking you to do this will be scamming the public out of tens of millions of dollars,” the message read.
An hour later, West shared a screenshot of a private conversation where he asked an unnamed X user to share a “crypto connect” name that wouldn’t require a middleman.
The user responded by naming Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and offering to request his phone number for West.
Several crypto commentators have already weighed in on the development.
Crypto commentator Armeanio said West should consider using crypto to sell his merchandise rather than launching a memecoin.
“Celebrity tokens generally bring a reckoning on retail,” Armeanio added.
Meanwhile, Crypto Vic predicts that West won’t launch a token and is likely just creating buzz ahead of his upcoming album release.
“He is a master marketer,” Crypto Vic said.
It comes after Haliey Welch, widely known as the “Hawk Tuah” girl, made her first media appearance after nearly two months of silence following the launch of the HAWK memecoin and the subsequent crash of the token’s price.
String of celeb token launches in recent times
In an interview conducted with podcaster FaZe Banks, Welch claimed she was deceived by the project manager. The Hawk Tuah token launched on Dec. 4, 2024, and surged to a market capitalization of over $490 million in a matter of hours.
However, the token’s market capitalization collapsed by over 91% the following day to roughly $41 million.
Related: Celebrity memecoins highlight crypto’s influencer problem
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump launched the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin just days before he was inaugurated in January.
However, just a day after it launched and saw significant growth, the controversial memecoin fell 38% as his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, launched a memecoin of her own.
A recent survey revealed that many buyers of the Official Trump and Official Melania memecoins were first-time crypto investors.
Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
