TLDR
- Former NYC Mayor Eric Adams denies profiting from NYC Token after on-chain data showed a $3 million liquidity withdrawal shortly after launch
- The Solana-based token crashed over 80% from its peak market cap of $580 million, with only $1.5 million of removed liquidity returned
- About 60% of roughly 4,300 traders lost money, with 15 traders losing over $100,000 each during the token’s volatile first hours
- Adams’ team claims no funds were removed while the NYC Token project separately admitted to “rebalancing” liquidity due to high demand
- The token currently trades around $0.13, down from highs near $0.47, with over $400 million in market value wiped out
Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing questions about his newly launched cryptocurrency after it lost most of its value within hours. The NYC Token, built on the Solana blockchain, dropped more than 80% shortly after going live.
Eric Adams, former NYC major, has just removed liquidity of his new memecoin, $NYC, scamming investors for over $2,536,301
He launched a $NYC memecoin just 30 minutes ago, and has removed its liquidity after promoting it on his personal social media, claiming to be the NYC token https://t.co/4s20jOTKEN pic.twitter.com/pFAG7l0XMq
— Rune (@RuneCrypto_) January 12, 2026
On-chain data showed that a wallet connected to the token’s deployer removed approximately $3 million in USDC liquidity near the market’s peak. The token had briefly reached a market cap of about $580 million before the crash began.
Todd Shapiro, a spokesperson for Adams, denied the allegations in a statement posted to Adams’ X account. “Eric Adams did not move investor funds,” the statement read. “Eric Adams did not profit from the launch of the NYC Token.”
The statement said no funds were removed from the token. Shapiro described the price swings as typical market volatility for new digital assets.
Conflicting Statements Raise Questions
The NYC Token project released its own statement that differed from Adams’ team. The project acknowledged it had to “rebalance the liquidity” because of high demand at launch.
“Our partners had to rebalance the liquidity,” the NYC Token account posted on X. The team said it was aware of reports about transactions removing liquidity from the pool.
On-chain analyst Rune Crypto was among the first to flag the liquidity removal. He warned that roughly $3.4 million had been withdrawn and called the project a potential rug pull scheme.
Blockchain visualization platform Bubblemaps tracked the wallet movements in detail. The platform identified wallet 9Ty4M, connected to the token deployer, as removing about $2.5 million in USDC at peak prices.
About $1.5 million was added back to the liquidity pool after the token price had already dropped more than 60%. Roughly $900,000 was not returned to the pool.
The token now trades around $0.13 as of Thursday morning Asia time. This is down sharply from the launch high near $0.47. More than $400 million in market value has disappeared since the peak.
Heavy Losses for Most Traders
Bubblemaps analyzed the impact on individual traders who bought the token. Out of approximately 4,300 traders, about 60% lost money during the first few hours of trading.
Most affected traders lost less than $1,000. About 200 traders lost between $1,000 and $10,000. A smaller group lost tens of thousands of dollars.
At least 15 traders lost more than $100,000 each. The losses came as liquidity dried up and prices fell rapidly.
Adams has described the NYC Token as a project supporting civic causes. In interviews, he said proceeds would fund education programs and scholarships for students in underserved communities. He also mentioned efforts to combat antisemitism and anti-Americanism.
The project website states the token has a total supply of 1 billion. It says 70% of the supply would go to a “NYC Token Reserve” and would not be part of the planned circulating supply. The website does not provide a detailed list of partners involved in the project.
