Eric Adams, who stepped down as New York Metropolis’s mayor two weeks in the past, made a high-profile entry into the crypto house 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 challenge rapidly took on the traits of a meme coin, with analysts describing the episode as a textbook rug pull situation.
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The Surprising 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 lot of 1000’s of {dollars} in losses, the narrative misplaced overwhelming assist from retail merchants.
Nevertheless, Eric Adams appears to have revived the pattern 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 “fight the rapid spread of antisemitism and anti-Americanism.”
The rollout, nevertheless, resulted in important losses for many merchants. NYC rapidly surged to a $600 million market cap earlier than crashing under $100,000.
Having seen these conditions repeatedly previously, the crypto neighborhood quickly started searching for 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 value of tokens.
“The NYC wallet returned some of the money to the liquidity pool and created two large buy orders (one for $200,000 and another for $300,000) to make small purchases every 60 seconds. These movements, besides being suspicious, were not communicated beforehand and generated a lot of distrust,” Blockworks blockchain analyst Fernando Molina instructed BeInCrypto.
The maneuver additionally did little to get better the value. 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 were many similarities: the way the liquidity pool (the market where NYC or LIBRA can be traded) was generated had particularities that are not so common in these launches (single-sided liquidity pools),” he stated. “There is no clear indication that it was the same team, but the similarities are striking.”
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.
“Recent reports alleging that Eric Adams moved money out of the NYC Token are false and unsupported by any evidence,” it learn. “At no point was his involvement intended for personal or financial gain.”
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The assertion added that, like many newly launched tokens, the challenge skilled important early volatility.
Nevertheless, the reason did little to ease scrutiny of Adams, who has had a novel involvement within the higher crypto scene.
As New York Metropolis’s mayor, Adams cultivated a repute as an outspoken supporter of cryptocurrency, continuously 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, nevertheless, proved controversial. It was marked by corruption allegations and traditionally low approval rankings, 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 challenge. Up to now, it’s off to a rocky begin.
