An onchain investigation by pseudonymous analyst Dethective linked a wallet that sniped the Kanye West-themed token YZY to another set of wallets behind the LIBRA token, suggesting that the same operator extracted tens of millions of dollars using insider knowledge.
In a series of X posts on Thursday, Dethective revealed that a YZY sniper wallet managed to buy $250,000 worth of tokens at just $0.20, far below the price most traders paid. Within minutes, the wallet secured over $1 million in profit, which was later funneled into a treasury wallet.
The same treasury wallet had also received large sums from wallets tied to LIBRA’s launch six months ago. Two “Libra sniper” wallets extracted a combined $21 million. In total, nearly $23 million was pulled across the YZY and LIBRA launches, with funds later moved to Kamino or Binance.
“We can be sure this is someone with clear inside info,” Dethective wrote. “The proof is that he did not snipe any coin besides $YZY and $LIBRA and he was prepared with huge size,” they added.
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Nansen, Cyvers confirm connection
Onchain analytics platform Nansen and blockchain security firm Cyvers also confirmed the overlap between the YZY sniper wallet and the wallets linked to the LIBRA extraction network.
“The YZY launch sniper wallet does overlap with the LIBRA extraction flow wallets,” Cyvers told Cointelegraph. “That points to the same actor (or a closely coordinated group) being involved in both events,” they added.
Meanwhile, Nansen noted that they can’t be sure that it is connected to Hayden Davis, the controversial figure behind the LIBRA token. “It is also always up for debate on what the insider information is and if it indeed is insider trading.”
Nansen added that notorious sniper Naseem, who made millions on the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin, was also among the earliest to buy YZY using a wallet previously funded with TRUMP profits. While Naseem claimed the advantage came from spotting the liquidity pool early, questions remain over whether this is just sharp trading or part of a broader pattern in 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 skyrocketed to a $3 billion market cap within 40 minutes before tumbling to about $1.05 billion.
At the time of writing, YZY was trading at around $1, down by more than 60% over the past day. The token hit an all-time high of $3.16 around 11 hours earlier, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
West announced the token on X, calling it part of “A NEW ECONOMY, BUILT ON CHAIN,” with YZY intended to fuel transactions within his proposed “YZY MONEY” system.
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