Rapper Lil Yachty launches his own crypto-currency
Rap star Lil Yachty, a performer whose discography is filled with boasts about the size of his wealth, is to launch his own crypto-currency.
The Oprah’s Bank Account and Yacht Club singer will issue the currency on Swiss platform Fyooz. Once live it will allow Lil Yachty fans to purchase “tokens” that can be used to gain access to “special goodies” – presumably events or merchandise – or be traded back into fiat currency that can be traded on the platform.
The idea is that if your favourite artist suddenly goes mainstream or has a huge number 1 hit, your token will rise in value. Other bands on the Fyooz site include ska-punk-reggae combo Pueblo Criminal, whose tokens are trading for $3.84, and Swiss-Indian, London-based singer-songwriter Ta’Shan, whose tokens will set you back $9.99.
Lil Yachty has 10.7m monthly listeners on Spotify, 10m Instagram followers and 5.2m subscribers on TikTok.
Fyooz co-CEO Remo Prinz said: “Lil Yachty has joined with Fyooz to create new methods of getting closer to fans and in so doing creating a new investment paradigm for both fans and stars globally”.
With lyrics including the memorable “I just bought some new teeth for the shine; I just bought a new watch cause it was time,” the launch of a financial product was perhaps inevitable.
He is not the first musician to launch a crypto-currency – Grammy nominated Akon started Akoin this summer after he was unable to convert currency after a trip to Senegal. Akon, who is planning to create a 2,000 acre “Akon City” in the West African country, hopes Akoin can become a “uniting crypto-currency for Africa”.