The newest successor to Bitcoin is inspired by rapper Kanye West. According to an interview with Noisey, an anonymous cabal of anarcho-financiers are preparing to release a "cryptocurrency for the masses" called Coinye West.

The site, coinywest.com, promises a "PROPER and FAIR" currency launch on 11 January, with a script-based algorithm that will "[fire] shots at bitcoin". Yet despite its name, the project has no actual affiliation with Kanye West. In fact, the anonymous creators are nervous he could try to shut them down.

"Kanye ... is and always has been a trendsetter, and he's always keeping things unique," they wrote in an email interview with Noisey. "[Still,] we're really not sure how Kanye is gonna react to this. We hope he loves it, but if he doesn't, he really isn't someone we want to piss off." Accordingly, they have offered the rapper 100,000 Coinye if he contacts them before their launch.

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Bitcoin's success has inspired a slew of alternative currencies that claim to improve upon the principles of their progenitor. Some of these, like Litecoin, are serious projects with market-caps of hundreds of millions of pounds. Others, like Dogecoin, seem like blips of meme-inspired fun.

Coinye West's creators deny that it's a joke, asserting that they hope to win the confidence of the masses. "Bitcoin is for hardcore money-hoarders, and dogecoin was more for the internet-meme crowds," they said. "Our goal with Coinye West is to make it easier for people to use cryptocurrency."

In December, the Spice Girls' Mel B became the first well-known artist to sell her music using Bitcoins. Snoop Dogg has also expressed an interest in using the currency for future releases.

Coinye's creators plan to court the music crowd too: "I can picture a future where Coinye is used to buy concert tickets, with cryptographically verified virtual tickets," they wrote. "Bitcoin started small too, and now look where it's at."