Less than two weeks after leaving City Hall, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing allegations of orchestrating a $3 million crypto exit scam. The politician, who once famously requested his first three paychecks in Bitcoin, launched the Solana-based "NYC Token" ($NYC) on Monday under the guise of funding charitable causes. Thirty minutes later, the liquidity vanished.
The 30-Minute ‘Charity’ Cycle
Adams announce the project via a video posted to his X account, @ericadamsfornyc, filmed inside a taxi cab. He claimed the token’s proceeds would combat "antisemitism and anti-Americanism" and fund blockchain education for youth. The official website, buynyctoken.com, promised a humanitarian roadmap.
The market reality was different. Following the announcement, the token’s market capitalization briefly surged, attracting speculators banking on the politician’s name recognition. On-chain data indicates that approximately 30 minutes after trading began, a wallet connected to the deployer removed the liquidity pool. The move instantly drained an estimated $2.5 million to $3 million in user funds, sending the price of $NYC down 98% in seconds.
"We’re about to change the game. This thing is about to take off like crazy," Eric Adams, in the launch video.
Market Mechanics & Reaction
The incident follows a familiar "rugpull" pattern: a high-profile figure announces a token with low liquidity depth, waits for retail buy pressure to inflate the price, and then withdraws the backing assets (SOL). Unlike a hack, this requires administrative control over the liquidity pool keys.
Community backlash was immediate. Crypto sleuths and analysts flagged the wallet movements, with many labeling the project a blatant grift. The allegations compound Adams’ existing legal troubles; he left office on January 1 following a federal indictment on corruption charges in late 2024. Adams has not publicly addressed the missing liquidity, though the token’s collapse has rendered the project effectively dead.
Institutional Context
This event marks a brazen evolution in celebrity crypto schemes. While 2024 saw a wave of hacked celebrity accounts promoting scam tokens, Adams’ direct video endorsement suggests intentionality, or a catastrophic failure of operational security. For regulators, the incident presents a messy jurisdiction challenge: a former government official allegedly soliciting funds for charity via an unregistered security, then rugging the donors immediately.
