Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams was a bullish proponent of crypto during his time in office, but an ill-fated meme coin debut this week has drawn outcry.
On January 12, Adams shared a post on his X account announcing the launch of NYC Token, a New York-themed token with no official ties to the city, but which creators said on the token’s website would go toward “critical initiatives.” Adams said some proceeds would go toward fighting antisemitism and blockchain education for kids.
As it started trading, the coin quickly surged to a market cap of roughly $580 million before suddenly reversing course and plunging more than 80% in a few minutes.
Outrage from the crypto community has been swift this week.
The episode drew accusations that investors had been victims of a “rug pull,” in which a token’s major holders sell after an initial surge, leaving investors locked into their positions and unable to exit without losing money.
While NYC Token rose slightly on its second day of trading, accusations that either Adams or the token’s creators had “rugged” investors continued to swirl. Legal filings show that the company behind NYC Token, c18 digital LLC, was formed in Delaware two weeks ago.
An anonymous crypto influencer on X shared several posts saying liquidity had been pulled before NYC Token’s plunge, with screenshots to illustrate, and users posted that they believed Adams had profited from the scheme.
“This has to be the fastest rug pull I’ve ever seen,” said one user on X
For others, the sense of schadenfreude was strong as they watched meme coin investors caught in another high-profile collapse. The episode drew comparisons to Hawk Tuah coin, promoted by viral influencer Haliey Welch. The coin surged before losing 95% of its value shortly after its debut.
A rug pull is usually defined as making a token effectively useless, which in memecoin land often means removing the liquidity needed for holders to sell,” Haonan Li, founder of stablecoin merchant platform Codex, told Business Insider. That’s what appears to have happened in Adam’s case—the base layer of liquidity was pulled from the market.”
Adams could not be reached for comment. Representatives for the token’s creators did not reply to a request for comment.
Crypto data platform CoinGecko was still flagging the NYC Token as high risk on Wednesday. It posted the following disclaimer on the token’s page:
“According to Rugcheck.xyz, there is a risk of market manipulation due to large concentration of tokens held in one or more unidentified wallets. Please use caution.”
