Former New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams’ new NYC token fell greater than 81% inside about half-hour of its launch on Solana on January 12, wiping out about $500 million in paper’s peak worth.
The token at one level had an estimated market cap of $540 million to $600 million.
Adams introduced the challenge at a Occasions Sq. occasion about 12 days after leaving workplace, linking the token to funding blockchain schooling and combating anti-Semitism.
The launch was promoted by means of his verified X account and later annotated with a “lag pull” warning by an X neighborhood be aware.
Adams framed the challenge as a part of an effort to counter anti-Semitism.
On-chain researchers shortly centered on liquidity actions and focus dangers.
In keeping with Bubblemaps, a pockets linked to the deployer created a unilateral liquidity pool on Meteora, draining roughly $2.5 million in USDC close to its peak worth.
It then added about $1.5 million after the token worth had already fallen greater than 60%, leaving about $932,000 not included in that spherical journey.
Solscan shows account exercise linked to the referenced deployer related to the evaluation.
The identical report additionally documented excessive provide focus, with the highest 5 wallets accounting for about 92% of the provision and the highest 10 accounting for about 98.73%.
My pockets was about 70% full.
Retail losses could be confirmed in transaction historical past
One pockets tracked by Solscan made 5 purchases totaling 745,725 USDC and was subsequently offered for 272,177 USDC.
This dealer misplaced roughly $473,548 in lower than 20 minutes.
The pace of drawdowns and the centralized holding construction make worth discovery depending on a skinny set of wallets and a small quantity of detachable liquidity.
These conditions can enhance slippage throughout exit at DEX venues.
| metric | big apple |
|---|---|
| peak market capitalization | $540 million to $600 million |
| Market capitalization after the crash | ~$87 million ~ $110 million |
| peak worth | ~$0.58 |
| plummeting costs | ~$0.11 |
| worth change | -81%+ |
| USDC faraway from liquidity (estimated) | $2.43 million to $3.4 million |
| Peak to crash time | ~half-hour |
Eric Adam’s Historical past of Cryptocurrency
This episode centered on celebrities who’ve spent years linking their political manufacturers to cryptocurrencies.
In keeping with NYC.gov, Adams organized to have his first wage as mayor exchanged for cryptocurrency in early 2022.
He beforehand mentioned he would obtain his first three paychecks in Bitcoin in 2021, together with a submit associated to that pledge.
In 2025, he raised consciousness of cryptocurrencies by means of metropolis initiatives and public appearances, however his political place modified after shedding the Democratic major to Zoran Mamdani and resigning on the finish of 2025.
Individually, a federal choose dismissed Adams’ corruption case with prejudice on April 2, 2025, after the Justice Division requested for it to be dismissed, in line with CNBC and Axios.
How US rules allowed the existence of the NYC token
The market context is vital, as New York Metropolis comes after different politician and celebrity-related tokens have come below scrutiny for price extraction, insider allocations, and vital drawdowns.
New York Metropolis’s 81% plunge is on par with Trump and Melania’s plunge from their peaks, in line with the information.
The market capitalization of broader meme cash fell 61% from its excessive in early 2025 to about $36.5 billion, however recovered to $47.3 billion in early 2026.
Buying and selling quantity additionally fell from about $20 billion in mid-2025 to lower than $3 billion by December.
For Solana, the identical doc mentions a token creation increase in 2025 and a decline within the share of tokens reaching sustainable buying and selling venues.
This throughput sample may end up in high-profile launches persevering with to compete for a similar retail liquidity.
Regulatory attitudes have additionally modified, with retail outcomes now depending on disclosure decisions, platform administration, and common anti-fraud enforcement, quite than buyers’ disclosure regimes associated to securities merchandise.
In keeping with an SEC employees assertion on February 27, 2025, many meme cash are sometimes bought for leisure, social interplay, and cultural functions and don’t contain securities transactions.
The assertion additionally warned that the wrongdoing may nonetheless be pursued by different federal and state authorities.
Since this employees assertion, public enforcement efforts towards meme coin issuers have been restricted.
He added that prosecutors proceed to pursue fraud instances in different crypto areas, and states are contemplating laws tailor-made to liquidity pool theft and related actions.
A proposed invoice in New York state would outline and criminalize sure “rug-pulling” practices based mostly on a developer’s possession or sale deeds.
This may create an alternate path to federal securities concept.
For New York Metropolis, the fast questions middle on controls and disclosure. That’s, who funded the launch, what agreements govern liquidity provision and market making, and whether or not promotional language matches on-chain execution.
These questions have been bolstered as a result of the liquidity removing related to deployers occurred at a time when retail demand was at its peak.
Additionally they turned extra intense as a result of the token provide distribution made worth formation depending on a small variety of wallets, who may promote till liquidity turned skinny or withdraw them fully.
Adams is publicly selling the token, and the New York Metropolis Token Account is discussing liquidity preparations for X.
Neither has launched detailed calculations that regulate for the roughly $932,000 distinction talked about within the bubble map evaluation.
Finally, this story is one which we needed to confirm a number of occasions to make sure it was not based mostly on deepfake movies or pictures. It appeared too fantastical to be true. However apparently that is the world we dwell in now.
If the President of the USA can situation a meme coin, why cannot the previous mayor of New York situation one? But whereas the president adopted an everyday disclosure schedule that eliminated liquidity, resulting in a gradual decline in worth, Mr. Adams pulled laborious on buyers at launch, immediately destroying all worth.
The US retail buyers who purchased each NYC and TRUMPOFFICIAL at launch are on the fence about each, and neither is more likely to instill confidence that cryptocurrencies generally is a pressure for good.