Crypto
crypto
Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Kanye West launched a solana-based meme coin that soared before tanking

Artist Kanye West launched a token, YZY, on the meme-coin-friendly solana blockchain, and it reached an eye-popping $3 billion market cap within 40 minutes of its launch, according to on-chain analytics firm Nansen. However, the surge was short-lived and the next 40 minutes saw its market cap drop to $1 billion, roughly where it still stands as of writing. 

The top 500 wallets realized $50.4 million in profits vs. $21.4 million in losses, with the largest realized profit at $3 million and the largest realized loss at $1.3 million, Nansen data shows.

The token is supposedly, per the website, part of a broader “Yeezy Money” ecosystem, “a new economy, built on chain.” This includes Ye Pay, “a crypto payments processor,” and YZY Card, a “debit instrument for spending YZY and USDC at millions of merchants worldwide.” 

The token distribution (or “YZYNOMICS”) includes 20% for the public, 10% for liquidity, and the rest for Yeezy Investments LLC.  

Allegations of insider trading quickly plagued the token, with Lookonchain posting: 

Recently pardoned BitMEX cofounder Arthur Hayes seems to have bought the token, asking West to “please not rug him” on X. Just a few hours later, Hayes posted, “Oopsie… fam next time pls don’t let me trade shitters like $YZY. Should have just kept two-steppin.”

Solana is also the blockchain behind $TRUMP, which is down 21% in the past month. Nansen said that while $TRUMP saw $29.5 billion in volume in the first 24 hours, “$YZY is significantly smaller,” with “$724 million in volume so far.”

In other solana news:

  • Solana is up 3% in the past 24 hours, but failed to cross the $200 mark in the past week and is down 37% from its January 19 all-time high.

  • DeFi Development Corp. acquired 110,000 SOL for $22 million. The company now holds 1,420,173 SOL and SOL equivalents on its balance sheet.

  • Sol Strategies announced this morning that it holds 400,909 SOL in its treasury. “Our validators generate SOL revenue every day. Instead of diluting shareholders, we reinvest it, letting us grow the treasury at a lower cost than buying on the market,” the company said on X.

Acheter-Louer, a French online real estate portal that underwent a solana pivot via its subsidiary Sol Treasury Corp., acquired 711 SOL and now holds 14,905 SOL.

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Sage D. Young
4h
Hyperliquid is the “1,000 pound gorilla in the room” leading year-to-date market gains amid conflict in the Middle East

While the crypto industry has shed $564.3 billion in 2026, Hyperliquid’s native token has bucked the downtrend and jumped 54.8% year to date.

Gorilla
Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
8h
Bitcoin tumbles as oil and gas prices spike and the market’s mood turns risk-off

Bitcoin ETFs reverted to outflows and bitcoin suffered $192 million in liquidations in the past 24 hours.

A Bitcoin ATM in Hong Kong...
crypto
Sage D. Young

Payward, parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, puts plans for IPO on hold

Payward, crypto exchange Kraken’s parent company, has paused its plans for an initial public offering until market conditions improve, according to a report from CoinDesk that cited two people with knowledge of the matter. 

Since the firm announced in November its preparation for an IPO of its common stock, the total market capitalization of the crypto industry has shed around $652.2 billion, from $3.2 trillion to $2.5 trillion as of Wednesday, data from CoinGecko shows. 

The news comes two weeks after Kraken received approval for a master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, allowing the crypto exchange to connect to the Fed’s payment infrastructure used by traditional banks and credit unions. 

Last year, Kraken raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from institutional investors such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities.

Payward, parent of crypto exchange Kraken, has put its IPO plans on hold

Payward, parent of crypto exchange Kraken, has put its IPO plans on hold

The news comes two weeks after Kraken received approval for a master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, allowing the crypto exchange to connect to the Fed’s payment infrastructure used by traditional banks and credit unions. 

Last year, Kraken raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from institutional investors such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities.

crypto
Sage D. Young

SEC and CFTC issue new guidance on how securities laws apply to crypto assets

On Tuesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, together with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, issued an interpretation clarifying how federal securities law applies to crypto assets, a first step toward developing a clearer regulatory framework. 

The interpretive guidance introduces a token taxonomy for different types of cryptocurrencies, with SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins adding that “most crypto assets are not themselves securities.”

Examples of a digital commodity, “a crypto asset that is intrinsically linked to and derives its value from the programmatic operation of a crypto system that is ‘functional,’” include:

The guidance also includes definitions of digital collectibles (such as NFTs), stablecoins, digital tools, and digital securities (such as tokenized real-world assets and stocks).

This is a monumental step in the mainstream adoption of the industry and clears a hurdle in how crypto can operate going forward, according to David Pakman, head of venture investments at CoinFund. “This will allow new token designs with the confidence that their existence does not require registration with the SEC, etc.,” Pakman told Sherwood News.

Despite the clarification efforts from the two organizations, the market capitalization of the crypto industry has dropped about 2% in the last 24 hours as each of the tokens mentioned in the guidance are trading lower in the period, data from CoinGecko shows.

The joint agency action also complements congressional efforts to turn a crypto market structure framework into law. With the goal of providing regulations on the offer and sale of digital commodities, the CLARITY Act passed the House of Representatives last year and is now sitting in the Senate.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
3/18/26
Citi analysts cut 12-month bitcoin projection to $112,000 from $143,000

The analysts’ bear-case scenario is $57,537, based on “recessionary macro-factors, especially weak equity markets,” which could cause ETF flows to stall.

Bitcoin ice carving

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