Investors are accusing former New York City Mayor Eric Adams of a cash grab following his introduction of a memecoin aimed at fighting antisemitism.
Adams announced the “NYC Token” on Monday in a video posted to X, claiming it was “built to fight the rapid spread of antisemitism and anti-Americanism across this country and now in New York City.”
“This thing is about to take off like crazy,” Adams told a taxi driver from the back seat in a promotional video. “If you can’t make it to New York, we’re going to bring New York to you.” (RELATED: House Oversight Moves To Hold Clintons In Contempt After They Duck Epstein Testimony)
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
NYC Token reached a market cap of $580 million before falling after on-chain data allegedly showed that a wallet tied to the token’s deployer had liquidated $2.5 million worth of it at its peak, according to CoinDesk.
Adams faced allegations of a rug pull, a scam in which a celebrity uses their status to convince investors to spend money on a coin tied to their name before immediately pulling out, allowing the celebrity to make a quick profit while investors operate at a loss.
Adams denied the allegations in a emailed statement Tuesday obtained by CoinDesk. “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,” the former mayor said. “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.”
NYC Coin responded to the allegations Tuesday morning. “Given the overwhelming support and demand for the token at launch, our partners had to rebalance the liquidity. We are aware of reports flagging the transactions removing liquidity from the pool.”
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
“The team commended the funds from TWAP and added additional funds to the liquidity pool,” the statement continued. “We’re in it for the long haul.”
The team added back roughly $1.5 million after the value had already dropped nearly 60% following the pull of $2.5 million, Bubble Maps alleged.
In an interview with Fox Business, Adams said he liked blockchains because “it is transparent, anyone can see it.”
“And when you look at this coin, our New York City Coin, the money that is generated from this coin, we’re going to zero in on how do we stop this massive increase of antisemitism across our country and across the globe, really, and how do we deal with the increase in anti-Americanism?” the former mayor said.
The proceeds of the coin were reportedly slated to go to three mission-driven initiatives — creating education programs to teach students about crypto and blockchains, scholarships for talented underprivileged students in the city, and combating antisemitism and anti-Americanism, according to Fox Business.
Adams had been deemed the “Bitcoin Mayor” after pushing the use of crypto while mayor and even receiving his first three paychecks in bitcoin, according to CoinDesk.
NYC Coin is slowly recovering but appears to have lost its initial trust among traders.