Kanye’s YZY Crypto Hits $3B Before Insider Sell-Off

Irys Raises $10M to Power Programmable Datachain | DATs Under Fire

Marco Manoppo & Karon Pangestu
August 22, 2025

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Good Morning.

Kanye West’s YZY token shot to $3B before crashing on insider sell-offs, underscoring the fragility of hype-driven crypto plays. The same theme played out on Wall Street, where Nasdaq moved to delist Windtree after its BNB treasury pivot collapsed: a sign that both celebrity coins and public DATs are struggling to prove staying power.

In Today's Email:

What Matters: Kanye’s YZY Crypto Hits $3B Before Insider Sell-Off 👀
Founders Highlight: Cryptofish of LFJ 🐟️
Deal Flows: Irys Raises $10M to Power Programmable Datachain 💰️

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Narratives: Hype-Driven Fragility

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TOGETHER WITH

Fluent ShipHouse: Build Without the Noise

Fluent’s ShipHouse is a month-long residency for early-stage builders who want to focus on one thing: shipping.

When & Where: October 20 – November 14, 2025, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Who It’s For:

Early-stage teams who are product-obsessed
Builders tired of hackathons that go nowhere or conferences full of forgettable panels
Founders who value real feedback over vanity metrics
Anyone committed to launching, not just talking

What to Expect:

Intentional support and constant feedback
A small, handpicked cohort of 6 ambitious teams
Zero distractions: no swag bags, no fluff, just output

Why Fluent ShipHouse? Because building matters more than pitching. At ShipHouse, you are the star, and shipping is non-negotiable.

WHAT MATTERS

Kanye’s YZY Crypto Hits $3B Before Insider Sell-Off

IMG: British GQ

State of play: Kanye West, now known as Ye, announced the launch of Yeezy Money (YZY), a Solana-based cryptocurrency, claiming it represents a new decentralized economy.

The token briefly hit a $3B market cap within 40 minutes before falling back near $1B.
West’s website and store list YZY as a payment option.
However, suspicions of insider trading quickly surfaced.
Analytics firms revealed that over 90% of the supply was held by insiders, with one wallet initially controlling 87%.
Despite concerns, several whales and high-profile traders, including Arthur Hayes, have bought in.

Why it matters: The controversy echoes past celebrity token launches, raising doubts about legitimacy even as traders and whales jump in for short-term gains.

Our take: Kanye West’s YZY token shows how celebrity influence can still drive massive liquidity in minutes, but the heavy insider concentration and rapid crash highlight how fragile these launches are.

For builders and investors: Treat celebrity tokens as short-term momentum trades rather than long-term holds.

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Cryptofish of LFJ

Intro: Cryptofish is the Founder of LFJ (formerly Trader Joe), a multi-chain DEX and DeFi ecosystem operating on Avalanche, Arbitrum, Solana, and Ethereum.

Previous background: Cryptofish is a full-stack and smart contract engineer who was an early contributor to several Avalanche projects, such as Snowball and Sherpa Cash. He have also worked at Google, and hold a Master's degree in Computer Science.

The big idea: Cryptofish created LFJ to be the ultimate onchain trading hub, combining the speed and tools of centralized exchanges with the freedom of DeFi.

Take a peek at our referral reward at the bottom of this issue. Share this newsletter and receive our list of 500 crypto VC individuals 👇

INSIGHTS

Windtree Delisted, DBS Tokenizes Notes, DATs Under Fire

Source: The Block

Nasdaq is moving to delist Windtree Therapeutics, a biotech turned BNB token treasury company, after its shares plunged below $1 and lost more than 99% this year.

Windtree had tried to reinvent itself with a $500M equity line and a $20M pact to buy BNB, but the pivot failed to restore confidence.
The collapse adds to growing doubts around digital asset treasury firms (DATs), which critics say are often rushed public vehicles with weak governance and little long-term strategy.
At the same time, Singapore’s DBS Bank is taking the opposite path, unveiling tokenized structured notes on Ethereum that will be distributed via regulated platforms like ADDX, DigiFT, and HydraX.
Its first products are crypto-linked notes broken into $1,000 fungible units designed for accredited investors, part of a broader $1B crypto-structured note business.
Those developments illustrate a widening gap: DATs struggling to survive in public markets, while established banks push tokenization as a credible route to bring digital assets into mainstream finance.

DEAL FLOWS

Irys Raises $10M to Power Programmable Datachain

WE'RE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE...
Our $10M Series A fundraise, led by @coinfund_io, bringing our total funding to $20M.
— Irys (✧ᴗ✧) (@irys_xyz)
1:27 PM • Aug 21, 2025

Deal flows slowed down this week - we saw $77M in deals 💼

Irys, a programmable datachain, raised $10M in Series A funding led by CoinFund, with backing from Hypersphere, Tykhe Ventures, Varrock Ventures, Breed VC, Echo Group, Amber Group, and WAGMI Ventures.

The round brings Irys’s total funding to $20M since 2024.
The platform lets data carry embedded instructions for licensing, monetization, and access control, positioning itself as infrastructure for the AI economy.
Irys has already processed 600M+ transactions, attracted 80+ strategic partners, and supports 4M+ daily active wallets.
Proceeds will go toward infrastructure expansion, partnerships, and institutional adoption ahead of its mainnet launch.
Irys enables native smart contracts to act on stored data, unlocking automated licensing, AI training verification, and programmable IP rights.

Deal flows in the past week:

LYS Labs, $4M Seed Round
Legion, $5M Seed Round
LO:TECH, $5M Seed Round
Hyperbeat, $5.2M Seed Round
Block Earner, $8M Series A Round
Irys, $10M Series A Round
Loop Crypto, $2M Strategic Round
Overtake, $7M Strategic Round
Cointel, $7.4M Strategic Round
DigiFT, $11M Strategic Round
Almanak, $8.45M Public Token Sale
o1 exchange, $4.2M Unknown Round

QUICK BITES

Windtree to delist from Nasdaq.
Kanye West launches official YZY token on Solana.
CFTC launches next phase of 'Crypto Sprint' initiative.
US DOJ says 'Writing code without ill intent is not a crime.'
OCC ends cease and desist order against Anchorage Digital.
Ethereum treasuries surpass 4M ETH, valued at over $17B.
Ripple partners with SBI to roll out RLUSD in Japan by Q1 2026.
South Korean financial executives to meet with Tether and Circle.
Anti-CBDC provision added to US House's must-pass defense bill.
MetaMask set to launch mUSD on Ethereum and Linea, issued by Bridge.
Bitcoin whale wakes after 7 years, rotates holdings into $270M worth of ETH.
DBS Bank to tokenize structured notes on Ethereum for institutional investors.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

Kyle’s read on Evolution of Speculation.
Yasha’s read on Blink... and you'll miss it.
Ignas’s read on S&P Dow Jones is moving into tokenization.

CRYPTO SCAMMERS TIER LIST
— Yami 𓃵 (@100kETH)
12:56 PM • Aug 21, 2025

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.