On Monday night, hours after announcing his “NYC Token” at a press conference in Times Square, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams launched his cryptocurrency. The purpose of the token was unclear—beyond a vague promise by Adams that it would combat antisemitism—but investors bought it up anyway, briefly sending its market cap to $600 million. Then it crashed.
It didn’t take long for crypto observers to declare NYC Token had all the hallmarks of a dreaded rugpull—a common scam where someone launches a cryptocurrency then quickly extracts the value, leaving retail investors with worthless tokens. According to Nicolas Vaiman, the founder of the crypto analytics firm Bubblemaps, as well as blockchain transactions reviewed by Fortune, the developer likely netted around $1 million in proceeds after withdrawing profits from the market.
