Eric Adams, who stepped down as New York Metropolis’s mayor two weeks in the past, made a high-profile entry into the crypto area with the launch of his personal token, NYC.
Lower than 24 hours later, greater than half of the 4,300 merchants who purchased the token had been left with losses. The undertaking shortly took on the traits of a meme coin, with analysts describing the episode as a textbook rug pull state of affairs.
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The Sudden Comeback of Political Meme Cash
Most individuals thought that 2025 had marked the tip of the meme coin wave.
After a sequence of high-profile launches by sitting presidents that ended with a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} in losses, the narrative misplaced overwhelming help from retail merchants.
Nonetheless, Eric Adams appears to have revived the development earlier than it was left behind for good. On Monday, the previous Mayor of New York introduced on social media the launch of the NYC token.
Adams clarified that it was constructed to “battle the speedy unfold of antisemitism and anti-Americanism.”
The rollout, nonetheless, resulted in vital losses for many merchants. NYC shortly surged to a $600 million market cap earlier than crashing beneath $100,000.
Having seen these conditions repeatedly previously, the crypto neighborhood quickly started in search of insiders.
On-Chain Knowledge Fuels Insider Allegations
A follow-up evaluation by the blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps revealed {that a} pockets linked to the token’s deployer withdrew roughly $2.5 million in USDC from the liquidity pool supporting buying and selling, simply as NYC’s worth reached its peak.
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When the token dropped by 60%, NYC’s creators re-added $1.5 million price of tokens.
“The NYC pockets returned a few of the cash to the liquidity pool and created two massive purchase orders (one for $200,000 and one other for $300,000) to make small purchases each 60 seconds. These actions, in addition to being suspicious, weren’t communicated beforehand and generated a number of mistrust,” Blockworks blockchain analyst Fernando Molina informed BeInCrypto.
The maneuver additionally did little to get better the worth. What occurred to the opposite $1 million stays unclear.
Within the meantime, buyers had been left to lick their wounds.
On Wednesday, Bubblemaps revealed that 60% of the 4,300 merchants who invested within the token misplaced cash. Greater than half misplaced lower than $1,000, whereas others suffered steeper losses. Fifteen of them misplaced over $100,000.
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Upon analyzing the launch, Molina drew comparisons to infamous rug pulls, such because the LIBRA token, launched by Argentine President Javier Milei final February.
“From a technical perspective, there have been many similarities: the way in which the liquidity pool (the market the place NYC or LIBRA will be traded) was generated had particularities that aren’t so frequent in these launches (single-sided liquidity swimming pools),” he mentioned. “There is no such thing as a clear indication that it was the identical group, however the similarities are placing.”
Nonetheless, Adams quickly obtained accusations of being an insider.
Adams Denies Allegations Amid Scrutiny
On Wednesday, Todd Shapiro, a spokesperson for Adams, issued an announcement responding to the rug pulls allegations.
“Latest stories alleging that Eric Adams moved cash out of the NYC Token are false and unsupported by any proof,” it learn. “At no level was his involvement supposed for private or monetary acquire.”
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The assertion added that, like many newly launched tokens, the undertaking skilled vital early volatility.
Nonetheless, the reason did little to ease scrutiny of Adams, who has had a singular involvement within the larger crypto scene.
As New York Metropolis’s mayor, Adams cultivated a status as an outspoken supporter of cryptocurrency, incessantly championing Bitcoin and blockchain expertise. Even earlier than taking workplace, he introduced plans to obtain his first three mayoral paychecks in Bitcoin.
His time period, nonetheless, proved controversial. It was marked by corruption allegations and traditionally low approval scores, leaving Adams with a troublesome path towards re-election.
Echoing a method employed by US President Donald Trump, who courted crypto lobbyists forward of his personal re-election marketing campaign, Adams continued to place himself as a pro-crypto politician. That method finally did not safe him a second time period.
Even so, the launch of the NYC Token marked the primary time Adams personally launched a cryptocurrency undertaking. To date, it’s off to a rocky begin.