Renowned artist Kanye West, also known as Ye, recently disclosed that he declined a $2 million proposal to participate in a cryptocurrency scam. The scheme entailed him sharing a deceptive crypto promotion with his 32.6 million followers and later asserting that his account had been compromised.
In a February 7 post on X (formerly Twitter), West stated, “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.”
He included a screenshot detailing the scam’s strategy, which involved an initial payment of $750,000 for posting the promotion and keeping it live for eight hours. Afterward, he was to claim his account was hacked, followed by a subsequent $1.25 million payout 16 hours later. The message highlighted that the company orchestrating this would defraud the public of tens of millions of dollars.
An hour later, West shared another screenshot of a private conversation where he inquired about a “crypto connect” name that wouldn’t require a middleman. The respondent mentioned Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and offered to obtain his contact information for West.
This revelation has prompted reactions from various crypto commentators. One suggested that West should consider utilizing cryptocurrency to sell his merchandise instead of launching a memecoin, noting, “Celebrity tokens generally bring a reckoning on retail.”
Another commentator predicted that West is unlikely to launch a token and might be generating buzz ahead of an upcoming album release, stating, “He is a master marketer.”
This incident follows a series of celebrity-related crypto ventures. Recently, Hailey Welch, known as the “Hawk Tuah” girl, broke her silence after nearly two months following the launch and subsequent crash of the HAWK memecoin. In an interview with podcaster FaZe Banks, Welch claimed she was misled by the project manager. The Hawk Tuah token had launched on December 4, 2024, rapidly reaching a market capitalization of over $490 million, only to plummet by over 91% to approximately $41 million the next day.
Additionally, former U.S. President Donald Trump introduced the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin just days before his inauguration in January. However, a day after its launch and initial growth, the memecoin’s value declined by 38% following the release of a separate memecoin by First Lady Melania Trump. Surveys indicated that many purchasers of these memecoins were first-time cryptocurrency investors.
