Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams, known as the "Bitcoin Mayor," officially launched the NYC Token (ticker: NYC) in a press conference at Times Square on Monday, January 12, 2026. Adams presented the token not merely as a financial asset but as a tool to combat antisemitism, anti-American sentiment, and to fund scholarships for underserved communities and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The project also includes an educational component aimed at teaching children about blockchain technology.
The launch, however, was quickly overshadowed by allegations of a potential rug pull. Several hours after the announcement, on-chain analysts observed suspicious liquidity activity. According to alerts from users like Rune Crypto on X, at least $3.4 million appeared to have been drained from the token's liquidity pools. On-chain visualization platform Bubblemaps flagged a specific wallet (9Ty4M), connected to the token deployer, which removed roughly $2.5 million in USDC at the market peak and later added back about $1.5 million after the token's price had plummeted more than 60%. Bubblemaps described this pattern as reminiscent of the controversial LIBRA token launch.
The project's website states the NYC Token is deployed on the Solana blockchain with a total supply of 1 billion tokens, with 70% allocated to a "NYC Token Reserve" and not part of the planned circulating supply. Adams stated he would not take an initial salary from the project but left open the possibility of future compensation.
The announcement triggered an immediate reaction in the crypto market, with memecoin launchpads like Pump.fun being flooded with copycat tokens using the NYC Token branding. The event also occurs amid ongoing U.S. Senate debates on regulations to prevent public officials from profiting from crypto sector ties.
Adams, who left office on January 1, 2026, has been a long-time crypto advocate, having accepted his first three mayoral paychecks in Bitcoin and Ethereum and previously supporting concepts like a "NYC Coin" using CityCoin infrastructure. The Block has reached out to Adams for comment on the rug pull allegations. This is a developing story.
