Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the launch of a Solana-based meme coin, branded as the New York City token (NYC), via a Jan. 13 X post. The token went live for trading on Jupiter, a decentralized exchange on Solana, quickly drawing market interest.
Adams wrote that the token was built to combat the rapid spread of antisemitism and anti-Americanism across the city. In an accompanying video, he sat in a taxi and told viewers the project would “take off like crazy.” But the price action told a different story.
Was the NYC Token Launch a Rug Pull?
According to DEXScreener data, the NYC token surged to a high of $0.58, pushing its market cap to $580 million. The rally proved short-lived: as of writing, the market cap had collapsed to under $130 million. The sudden downturn sparked accusations that the project team had deliberately removed liquidity.
On-chain analytics shared by Bubblemaps revealed that a wallet linked to the token’s deployer removed $2.5 million in USDC liquidity when the token was trading near its peak. After the price dropped more than 60%, the same address added back about $1.5 million in USDC, leaving roughly $900,000 unrecovered. That gap fueled further suspicion among community members.
In response, the NYC token’s official X account released a statement claiming the team is using Time-Weighted Average Price (TWAP) mechanisms to manage price stability, adding that funds are being gradually returned to the liquidity pool to avoid additional disruption. Despite the statement, crypto investors remained uneasy, citing the timing and scale of the liquidity movements as red flags for a possible rug pull.
Adams’ Vision and Tokenomics
In a Fox Business interview, Adams said proceeds from the NYC token would be directed toward nonprofits raising awareness about antisemitism and anti-Americanism, as well as blockchain education and scholarships for underserved students.
The project’s official website lays out the token allocation: 40% for community rewards, 25% for liquidity, 15% for development, and the remaining 20% split between marketing and the project team. The site states the project aims to build “a decentralized financial ecosystem that’s as ambitious as the city itself,” but offers no further roadmap details.
Adams stepped down as mayor on Jan. 1, replaced by Zohran Mamdani. During his tenure, he was one of the most vocal political proponents of cryptocurrency, converting his first three paychecks into Bitcoin and Ethereum, establishing the Office of Digital Assets and Blockchain Technology, and launching the NYC Blockchain Plan to attract Web3 businesses to the city.