When a celebrity launches a token, prices can rocket, but crashes usually follow just as fast. Kanye West’s YZY is the latest reminder that hype without substance leaves investors burned. Too many people trust a famous face instead of a working product. Fame can move liquidity for days; fundamentals decide the outcome for years. Here we look at how celebrity coins spiked and collapsed, why pump and dump cycles keep coming back, and what signs you can spot to avoid the next wipeout. When a celebrity launches a token, prices can rocket, but crashes usually follow just as fast. Kanye West’s YZY is the latest reminder that hype without substance leaves investors burned. Too many people trust a famous face instead of a working product. Fame can move liquidity for days; fundamentals decide the outcome for years. Here we look at how celebrity coins spiked and collapsed, why pump and dump cycles keep coming back, and what signs you can spot to avoid the next wipeout. Ye’s YZY crash Ye’s YZY crash Kanye West introduced YZY as a meme coin and as a part of his larger 'YZY Money' idea. At launch, market cap reached nearly $3 bln. What happened next was predictable. Liquidity dropped, traders saw manipulation, and the token lost 65%. YZY now is a shadow of a $3 bln peak, stuck near $1.1 bln. $3 bln $3 bln Liquidity dropped, traders saw manipulation, and the token lost 65% For investors who trusted the ads and hype, the lesson is clear. Kim Kardashian’s EMAX: from Instagram to the SEC EthereumMax was promoted by Kim Kardashian on her Instagram. This marketing was later called an undisclosed ad. The SEC fined Kardashian $1.26 mln, saying her post was a form of fraud on investors. EMAX price collapsed by over 99%. What was once shown as a DeFi revolution is a warning about how celebrity promoting can fuel scams. The case is also used as a spot in discussions of crypto regulation. Trump’s TRUMP token: political pump, market dump Donald Trump’s TRUMP token launched with heavy social media hype. At its peak, the price was $75 , and market cap was about $14.5 bln. Then it fell to $8–9 with only $1.7–2 bln left. That was almost a 90 % loss. $75 $75 What did investors get? Only the name of a politician with no product. Analysts called it another FOMO case, where people jumped in for the brand, not the fundamentals. The dump showed how fragile celebrity coins are. MrBeast’s BEAST: from charity to doubt The BEAST token was promoted as a charity project. Marketing suggested it was endorsed by MrBeast, though he denied direct links. Price action showed a fast pump and then a dump. Investors raised questions about fraud and scams. With a lack of information, this coin became a spot example of how manipulation and unclear promotion can damage trust. Meme Insider reported how it collapsed. Messi & Ronaldinho’s WATER: football hype, dry market The WATER cryptocurrency, promoted by the football icons, promised social good. Prices went up 194–350 % before falling below launch. Accusations of pump and dump schemes followed. Even celebrities as famous as Messi and Ronaldinho could not protect investors from loss. The project showed how regulation is weak when celebrities promote meme tokens without clear utility. Other names in the spotlight Floyd Mayweather and Jake Paul also joined the list of celebrities tied to crypto tokens. Mayweather promoted ICOs later accused of fraud, while Jake Paul endorsed coins that many called scams. These cases underline how marketing by the famous can create FOMO, yet the result for investors is often manipulation, pump, and dump. These cases underline how marketing by the famous can create FOMO, yet the result for investors is often manipulation, pump, and dump. Paul, Mayweather, and others show how celebrities use their reach to promote risky schemes. Infographic: celebrity coins performance Numbers make the story clearer than words. Below is a snapshot of how the most talked-about celebrity coins performed — from explosive peaks to painful drops. The table shows the gap between the hype investors bought into and the reality they ended up with. EMCD view: trust, not trust-me All these examples prove the same point. Celebrity coins are fragile. They depend on hype and ads, not on technology. They typically become scams or spot cases of fraud. What investors need is a safe place with a focus on real infrastructure, not the next wave of social media marketing. At EMCD the aim is to avoid short-term noise and build tools that make the cryptocurrency market more stable. Trust, not trust-me. EMCD How do you choose which crypto products to trust? Do you look at fundamentals, or do you follow the hype around new tokens? What signals help you avoid risky projects, and what criteria guide your decisions when adding coins to your portfolio? Share your approach in the comments, and subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss the next big stories in crypto and mining. my blog
