Former New York Mayor Eric Adams’ much-hyped NYC Token crashed spectacularly just minutes after its launch, wiping out nearly $600 million in market value.
The Solana-based memecoin, which debuted on January 12, 2026, plummeted 81% in just half an hour. Talk about a nosedive.
Adams himself announced the token during a flashy Times Square event and promoted it through his verified X account.
Standing in the neon glow of Times Square, Adams hyped his doomed token while his X followers watched the impending disaster unfold.
Funny how Community Notes quickly slapped a “rug pull” warning on those posts. The token peaked at around 58 cents before crashing to about 13 cents. Ouch.
The collapse wasn’t just bad luck. A wallet linked to the token’s developer withdrew $2.43 million in USDC from the liquidity pool at maximum retail demand, later returning $1.5 million.
That’s $932,000 mysteriously gone. Meanwhile, a wallet associated with Adams dumped a large chunk of a $2.5 million holding. Not suspicious at all.
Adams claimed the token would fund blockchain education and fight antisemitism. Noble causes, sure.
But the project’s website had non-functional buttons and barely any details. Real professional.
Behind the scenes, C18 Digital, incorporated just two weeks earlier on December 30, 2025, was listed as the associated entity.
Former NYC mayoral candidate Eddie Cullen said discussions about the project began around June 2025. He plans to send a cease-and-desist letter to Adams regarding unauthorized use of his token concept. The operational structure? Vague at best.
The token’s design was problematic from the start. With a maximum supply of one billion tokens, price formation depended on a small number of wallets.
The creator sent 80 million coins to a single account before adding liquidity. Recipe for disaster.
This fiasco joins other politician-linked token failures like the TRUMP and MELANIA tokens.
The broader memecoin market had already fallen 61% from early 2025 highs before rebounding to $47.3 billion just before the NYC Token launch.
Adams promised to teach New York’s children about blockchain virtues.
One unfortunate retail investor lost over $473,000 in minutes after making multiple purchases during the token’s volatile launch period.
Lesson learned: Even mayors can create worthless digital tokens.
Many investors could have avoided losses by implementing proper risk management strategies and not investing more than their discretionary income in such speculative assets.
