Kanye’s YZY Token Linked to LIBRA Scheme

Hi! In today’s edition:

• 💥 Kanye’s YZY tied to LIBRA scheme

• 🧾 MetaMask goes big with mUSD launch

• ⚔️ Stripe vs Coinbase: stablecoin showdown

• 🎧 Next 100M crypto users — who gets them first?

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YZY Sniper Wallet Traced to LIBRA Scheme

Kanye West’s Solana-based YZY token has been linked to a major $21 million extraction scheme involving the LIBRA token.

Pseudonymous onchain analyst “dethective” traced a YZY sniper wallet back to a group of wallets that also executed rapid, high-profit trades on the LIBRA token launch about six months earlier.

In the case of YZY, the sniper wallet managed to acquire $250,000 worth of tokens at $0.20 each – a price significantly lower than most traders could access. 

Within eight minutes, these holdings produced over $1 million in profit, which was then routed into a treasury wallet already associated with LIBRA-linked wallets.

“We don’t know if it is Hayden. But we can be sure this is someone with clear inside info,” said dethective, referring to the controversial figure Hayden Davis, known for his role as LIBRA “facilitator.”

“The proof is that he did not snipe any coin besides YZY and LIBRA and he was prepared with huge size.”

YZY has crashed nearly 70% since its post-launch rally, and is currently trading with a higher volume of sell orders. 

Onchain wallet tracker Lookonchain noted that Kanye West had added $34 million to YZY’s liquidity pool with a price range of between $3.1716 to $4.4929.

“This means once the price climbs above $3.1716, he'll start earning fees while gradually selling YZY for USDC,” said Lookonchain.

MetaMask Unveils mUSD Stablecoin

Popular self-custodial wallet firm MetaMask has officially revealed that it will launch its own native dollar stablecoin called MetaMask USD (mUSD) later this year.

mUSD will be issued by Stripe-owned platform Bridge and powered by the decentralized protocol M0. 

Each mUSD token will be backed 1:1 by U.S. cash and short-duration Treasuries, with real-time transparency and monthly public attestations of reserves.

The stablecoin will also be natively integrated into the MetaMask wallet, giving it deep wallet integration and composable cross-chain use. However, it will first be rolled out on Ethereum and Consensys’ layer 2 network Linea.

“Issuing a custom stablecoin used to take more than a year of complex integrations,” said Bridge CEO Zach Abrams in a statement.

“We’ve reduced that timeline to a matter of weeks, which means platforms like MetaMask can realize benefits more rapidly and efficiently than ever before.”

Stripe and Coinbase Are Racing to Own Crypto Payments. Who Will Win?

By Kate Drew

On the heels of the passage of the GENIUS Act, the market flooded with announcements from companies launching stablecoin initiatives, and even their own blockchains. Once largely the domain of crypto-native firms, the space is catching the attention of major financial services firms broadly, from banks to fintech giants. All of a sudden, everyone wants to be a crypto company.

Among the fray is payment processing titan Stripe. The company, founded by Irish brothers John and Patrick Collison, is known primarily for providing the underlying infrastructure that facilitates e-commerce payments. It processed a whopping $1.4 trillion in total payment volume in 2024, up nearly 40% year over year and equating to a little over 1% of global GDP.

But as Stripe doubles down on crypto and Coinbase pushes into payments, the question is: who will win the stablecoin race?

Companies Are Competing to Bring Crypto to the Masses. Who Is Best Positioned?

Is the next wave of crypto adoption coming from dapps and wallets, or financial incumbents like Stripe and Robinhood?

Crypto is moving past speculation — and into the battle for mass adoption.

In this episode, Phantom CEO Brandon Millman and Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz join Unchained to debate who will own the next hundred million users. Will it be product-led startups, Web2 giants like X and Meta, or crypto-native apps like Phantom? From payments to trading wars to the “everything app” dream, they unpack where the real value will accrue — and why the easy money era for entrepreneurs is over.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

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• 📊 Ethena’s risk committee approved BNB as the first new asset backing its USDe stablecoin under a freshly formalized framework, with XRP and HYPE next in line once they meet strict liquidity and trading thresholds.

• 🌉 Aave deployed on Aptos in its first move outside the Ethereum ecosystem, enabling lending and borrowing in assets like USDC, USDT, APT, and sUSDe with incentives from the Aptos Foundation.

• 🟠 Starknet approved a governance proposal to let tokenized versions of Bitcoin join STRK in securing its network, capping BTC’s consensus power at 25% to balance risk while broadening staking options.

• ✅ Anchorage Digital shed a 2022 enforcement order after the OCC ruled it had fixed money-laundering controls, letting the first U.S.-chartered crypto bank reclaim its status as the “world’s most regulated” custodian.

• 👨‍💻 A top DOJ official said “writing code without ill intent is not a crime,” signaling a policy shift away from prosecuting open-source developers after the Tornado Cash verdict sparked industry backlash.

• 🚫 U.S. lawmakers added an “Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act” to the must-pass defense bill, aiming to block the Federal Reserve from directly issuing a digital dollar over fears of government monitoring.

• 📜 The CFTC launched the third phase of its “crypto sprint,” seeking public feedback on custody, leveraged retail trading, and consumer protections by October as it works with the SEC to build a unified federal framework for digital assets.

• 📈 BNB hit an all-time high of $881 after corporate treasuries, including Windtree Therapeutics and Nano Labs, poured hundreds of millions into the coin.

• 🇪🇺 EU officials are accelerating work on a digital euro after the U.S. passed its landmark stablecoin law, with policymakers now weighing whether to run it on public blockchains like Ethereum or Solana to counter dollar dominance and safeguard Europe’s financial autonomy.

• 💳 Stablecoin payments firm Loop Crypto raised new funding led by VanEck and Fabric Ventures as its merchant transaction volume surged 344% year-over-year, with tools enabling subscriptions and global payments.

1. Human Rights Foundation: Financial Freedom Report #86

2. Bitcoin’s 10-Year Outlook: A Forecast by Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise