Former New York Mayor Launches Meme Coin; Token Price Plummets by 80%

Eric Adams' NYC Token price plummeted by 80% after launch.

A wallet associated with former New York Mayor Eric Adams gained $1 million through manipulations with the liquidity pool of the NYC Token meme coin, according to analysts at Bubblemaps.

Suspicious LP activity on $NYC 🚨

Launched by Eric Adams, former mayor of New York

The team extracted over $1M by cycling USDC in and out of the liquidity pools https://t.co/rJjXGgarUC pic.twitter.com/6XlJNaELe7

— Bubblemaps (@bubblemaps) January 13, 2026

The politician introduced the Solana-based token on January 12 during a conference in Times Square.

Proud to launch @buynyctoken, a new token built to fight the rapid spread of antisemitism and anti-Americanism across this country and now in New York City.

Now live at https://t.co/zowY9Ri3aK pic.twitter.com/qBMzV88Tmj

— Eric Adams (@ericadamsfornyc) January 12, 2026

In an interview with FOX Business, Adams explained that the coin’s goal is to combat “anti-Americanism” and antisemitism. He promised to direct all proceeds to a non-profit organization.

“If Walmart uses blockchain to control the food chain and ensure transparency, then cities can work more efficiently. With this New York token, we will continue to invest in making our city safer,” the former mayor was quoted by the New York Post.

However, the NYC Token website offers little information about the project’s direction.

According to the tokenomics, 40% of the total issuance of 1 billion NYC coins is intended for community rewards. 25% will go to liquidity, 15% to development. The remaining 20% is allocated between marketing and the team.

In May 2025, Adams promised to turn New York into the world’s crypto capital.

“We are focused on the long-term values of these technologies […], not on chasing memes or trends,” he stated.

Rug Pull?

The NYC Token price plummeted from $0.47 to approximately $0.10 about 30 minutes after launch. The asset’s capitalization fell from $500 million to less than $128 million at the time of writing.

Experts noted suspicious activity. A wallet affiliated with the coin’s creator sent 80 million tokens to an account that provided them as liquidity on the decentralized exchange Meteora.

The same address then withdrew $2.5 million in USDC at the price peak, returning only $1.5 million after a 60% drop.

Bubblemaps also noted that a wallet linked to the NYC deployment opened several one-sided liquidity pools on Meteora.

On-chain analyst Rune suggested that investors might have lost $3.4 million on the former New York mayor’s coin.

Eric Adams, former NYC major, has just removed the whole liquidity pool of his new memecoin: a total of $3,430,000 scammed https://t.co/QgGAVzgM3H pic.twitter.com/UdEbufckS3

— Rune (@RuneCrypto_) January 12, 2026

Bubblemaps compared the scheme to the launch of LIBRA token, which was promoted on social media by Argentine President Javier Milei.

After being elected mayor in 2021, Adams announced he would receive his first three paychecks in Bitcoin.