New York’s pro-crypto mayor Eric Adams drops reelection bid

New York’s crypto hub ambitions might be set for uncertainty after New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of his reelection bid on Sunday.

In a video on X on Sunday, Adams cited monetary struggles stemming from his dismissed federal bribery case and the withholding of public funds.

“Regardless of all that now we have achieved, I can’t proceed my reelection marketing campaign,” he mentioned earlier than including that the “fixed media hypothesis about my future and the marketing campaign finance board’s resolution to withhold thousands and thousands of {dollars} has undermined my potential to lift the funds wanted for a critical marketing campaign.”

Adams initially gained workplace in 2022 on a public security platform in the course of the pandemic restoration and has been credited with lowering crime and boosting the economic system. Nonetheless, his affiliation with varied scandals has been seen as a persistent legal responsibility.

“Though that is the top of my reelection marketing campaign, it’s not the top of my public service,” mentioned the mayor, earlier than including, “I’ll proceed to struggle for this metropolis.”

Solely in America. Solely in New York.
Thanks for making my story a actuality. pic.twitter.com/efHuyBnITJ

— Eric Adams (@ericadamsfornyc) September 28, 2025

The Massive Apple’s Bitcoin advocate 

In Could, Adams spoke at a press convention to announce that New York Metropolis was “open for enterprise” for crypto corporations.

Later in the identical month, he mentioned he would create a digital advisory council to draw jobs and funding to the Massive Apple and place it because the “crypto capital of the globe.”

“The age of tokenization, which incorporates crypto and blockchain and different fintech improvements, that age is right here, and we’re going to proceed to maneuver ahead with it,” he mentioned on the time. 

Associated: NYC mayor lays out crypto plans as metropolis residents vote in Democratic major

He additionally referred to as for a Bitcoin bond to be launched within the metropolis and renewed calls to axe New York’s strict BitLicense program.

Nonetheless, New York Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander rejected the proposal, claiming it was “legally doubtful and fiscally irresponsible.”

No pro-crypto replacements 

Adams, presently polling in fourth place, confronted mounting strain from enterprise leaders who additionally oppose frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist assemblyman.

Mamdani has but to make clear his stance on crypto, however the business seems involved that his progressive/socialist method could also be unfriendly to the digital asset business.

Democrat Andrew Cuomo is second within the race and has a combined however usually extra regulatory method to crypto. Cuomo beforehand labored as a paid adviser to the OKX crypto change because it handled a federal investigation.