There are plenty of digital currencies out there for those of us fed up with the boring old paper kind bank produced and backed by the government. But what about the oft-neglected overlap between frenzied crypto-anarchists and hip hop fans?
Later this month, that gaping hole in e-commerce may finally be filled by "Coinye West," a newly minted cryptocurrency inspired by professional rapper and supreme egoist Kanye West.
Much like Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency inspired by the bug-eyed Shiba Inu Internet meme, Coinye is based on the virtual currency Bitcoin.
(Read more: Don't rule out a ban on virtual currencies: Peercoin)
Coinye's anonymous creators began promoting the currency late in 2013, even reaching out to Yeezus himself on Twitter on New Year's Eve to try to pique the musician's interest. West, who has no connection to the project, has yet to make any public statement.
Coinyewest.com
@kanyewest Kanye, have you ever invested in bitcoin or litecoin? What do you think of@CoinyeWest ?
Who the creators (or just creator) are, meanwhile, remains something of a mystery. They were not immediately available for comment on this story, though they told Noisey, Vice's music blog, that they were determined to maintain anonymity going forward "in case Kanye gets pissed off."
The motivation behind creating Coinye, they told Noisy, is to create a "cryptocurrency for the masses." In other words, they wanted to set up a more user-friendly version of Bitcoin with a relatable face on it to help users, say, "buy concert tickets, with cryptographically verified virtual tickets."
(Read more: Bitcoin breaks $1,000 barrier for first time)
