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A meme coin hawked by former Mayor Eric Adams appeared to face a sharp liquidity run just after launch — and Adams is facing scrutiny for having promoted the cryptocurrency.
Called the NYC token and pitched to raise money to combat what he said included antisemitism, “anti-Americanism” and other causes, the meme coin skyrocketed to a $580 million market capitalization after its launch Monday but crashed within hours, down 80%, according to a post on X by The Kobeissi Letter, which follows the global capital markets.
A wallet connected to the coin’s deployer took out $2.5 million, leading to claims of a potential rug pull, legally ambiguous but considered a kind of scam in which those behind a cryptocurrency abruptly yank all or much of the assets, putting other investors in a precarious position with much less valuable, and sometimes worthless, tokens.
The publicist Todd Shapiro, who worked for Adams during the quixotic reelection campaign from which he abruptly dropped out in September, did not respond to a text message asking whether the former mayor had indeed pulled out the rug.
But the cryptocurrency journalistic outlet CoinDesk quotes a statement from Adams denying any rug pull.
“After the launch of NYC Token, there was a lot of demand. Our market maker made adjustments in an attempt to keep trading running smoothly, and as part of this process, moved liquidity,” Adams said in the statement, according to the outlet. “The team has not sold any tokens and are subject to lockups and transfer restrictions. We are focused on being transparent and building for the long term.”
Cryptocurrency has always been an interest of Adams, a former police captain, state lawmaker, Brooklyn borough president and mayor from 2022 to 2025. His first public appearance since leaving office Dec. 31 was in Times Square on Monday to promote the meme coin. He wore an NYC token hat, held an NYC token placard and stood in front of a $NYC banner.
Adams took his first three paychecks in bitcoin and fashioned himself the bitcoin mayor. Details are vague on who exactly is behind the venture, and when pressed for details at the Times Square event, the former mayor referred reporters to a website that had little to no information.
Adams, who had just returned from the United Arab Emirates and the Democratic Republic of Congo, said he was en route to Texas after the news conference. Video showed him cursing out and threatening a heckling passenger in Dallas.
“You’re gonna see the Brooklyn in me,” the ex-mayor said.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.