Former New York Mayor Eric Adams is facing blistering accusations from the cryptocurrency community after a digital token he helped promote collapsed in value, triggering what many traders are calling a “rug pull” that wiped out millions of dollars in investor funds.
Adams, a longtime booster of digital assets who once touted making New York a “crypto capital,” unveiled the NYC token last week in Times Square as a Solana-based meme coin.
He said the coin would help fund efforts to combat antisemitism and anti-Americanism, and support blockchain education for young people.
Within minutes of the launch, the token’s market value reportedly surged by about $500 million, only to plummet more than 80% just as quickly after developers pulled millions of dollars from the coin’s liquidity pool.
Critics on social media, including prominent crypto analysts tracking blockchain transactions, were quick to characterize the sequence as a rug pull.
“Rug pull” is a term used in decentralized finance to describe a situation where developers withdraw liquidity, leaving ordinary holders unable to sell without suffering heavy losses.
“Eric Adams has now drained over $3,400,000 from the liquidity pool of his memecoin: it’s now a rug-pull,” blockchain sleuth Rune Crypto posted on X.
The X account for NYC token responded to the public outcry, saying it “had to rebalance the liquidity” due to “overwhelming support and demand for the token.”
In a post on X just before investors piled in, Adams wrote, “We’re about to change the game.”
Investors estimated that at least $3 million in liquidity was removed amid the rapid crash.
Blockchain tracking platforms reported that roughly $2.5 million was taken from a decentralized exchange pool near the token’s peak price, with some funds later added back after the price had collapsed. However, an unaccounted portion remained missing.
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Adams, who left office Jan. 1 after a tumultuous term marked by controversy and fervent crypto advocacy, previously championed digital assets, including accepting early paychecks in bitcoin and pushing for broader adoption of blockchain technologies in city governance.
The NYC token website and social channels offered scant technical details or an audited road map ahead of the launch, a lack of transparency that fueled skepticism even before the crash.
