Former New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams is dealing with plenty of warmth right now after his high-profile launch of a brand new cryptocurrency, dubbed the NYC Token, crashed inside hours of launching. Adams launched the token on Monday, however the coin misplaced 80% of its worth inside a pair hours.
Adams unveiled the Solana-based token at a Occasions Sq. occasion on Monday, selling it as a software to generate funding for social causes together with the battle in opposition to antisemitism and “anti-Americanism,” in addition to blockchain schooling and scholar scholarships.
Eric Adams told Fox Enterprise that proceeds would help nonprofits like Fight Antisemitism and traditionally Black faculties and universities with out elevating taxes.
The announcement got here lower than two weeks after Eric Adams left workplace as mayor, the place he had long championed crypto adoption — together with converting his first mayoral paychecks into Bitcoin and different crypto and signing an govt order to advertise digital belongings.
A mayoral ‘pump and dump’ from Eric Adams
Investor curiosity was sturdy for the primary couple of hours following the coin’s launch, briefly driving the NYC Token’s market capitalization into the a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars}. However inside hours of its debut, the token’s worth collapsed — dropping greater than 80% from its peak, in keeping with market information.
On-chain analysts and merchants shortly accused the mission of a rug pull, a situation during which insiders withdraw liquidity from a token to the detriment of odd buyers.
The coin hit $580 million in market cap earlier than crashing -80% in a matter of minutes. Almost $500 million in market cap was misplaced, as of earlier January 13.
Social media and buying and selling boards erupted with criticism. Many within the crypto area noticed this dump coming.
Some retail merchants accused the coin’s sample as a classic pump-and-dump scheme, whereas others questioned the token’s sparse disclosures, restricted technical particulars, and the absence of named companions or a working mission roadmap.
The case for Bitcoin
Right here we go once more. This basic second and rug pull reveals the dangers inherent within the broader memecoin and altcoin market and makes a powerful argument for Bitcoin’s relative stability.
Initiatives like this are vulnerable to massive liquidity withdrawals, both instantly after a token’s launch or because it reaches new highs. Reputation alone could make it straightforward to draw consumers, giving insiders a chance to promote. After they do, it usually triggers sharp worth drops and important investor losses — practices which might be manipulative and, frankly, resemble a rip-off.
Bitcoin, in distinction, offers a longer track record, clear issuance, and decentralized governance. Its mounted provide and consensus mechanisms are its key to resilience, setting it aside from short-lived tokens with concentrated management or opaque buildings.
Eric Adam’s token exemplifies recurring pitfalls we see in speculative, celebrity- or politically branded cash: opaque tokenomics, centralized provide, and sudden collapses that depart retail buyers uncovered.
Bitcoin’s structure is designed to mitigate these dangers by way of decentralized proof-of-work safety and a predictable issuance schedule. Bitcoin’s many years‑lengthy resilience has stood the check of any speculative churn coming from memecoins.
Crypto pump-and-dump schemes like this one from Eric Adams actually spotlight why Bitcoin stands aside from the broader crypto market.
