Kanye West-Inspired Internet Money, ‘CoinYe West,’ To Debut This Month

Christina Lee | January 3, 2014 9:07 am

A few months ago, The New York Times published an op-ed titled “Much Ado About Bitcoin.” By then, Bitcoin had been called “the future of online currency” and “an online form of money laundering” by a local senator. Writer Adrian Chen had his doubts. “I don’t think we’ll all be paying in bitcoin for tickets to Kanye West’s 2024 presidential victory tour,” he said.

The anonymous makers behind CoinYe West, an online currency debuting January 11, disagree. “We chose to represent Kanye because he is and always has been a trendsetter, and he’s always keeping things unique,” they said to Noisey. “I can picture a future where Coinye is used to buy concert tickets, with cryptographically verified virtual tickets, and other ideas I can’t give away just yet.”

CoinYe West is inspired by, but unaffiliated with West himself. Meanwhile, as one bitcoin is currently valued at $859.64, few musicians — including Mel B and Snoop Dogg — have warmed up to accepting that sort of currency. Based on the Noisey interview, the CoinYe West creators seem to have realized this. “We’re really not sure how Kanye is gonna react to this,” they say. “We hope he loves it, but if he doesn’t, he really isn’t someone we want to piss off.”

For this reason, they signed its email with “IN YEEZUS WE TRUST” but also insisted on speaking on the condition of anonymity. Check out the rest of the interview at Noisey.

Get an eyeful of even more pop music coverage, from artist interviews to exclusive performances, on Idolator’s YouTube channel.

Tags: