Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams denies 'NYC token rug pull' allegations… "No personal gain"

Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams has strongly denied allegations of a rug pull involving the meme coin “NYC Token” linked to him. In response to claims that investors suffered millions of dollars in losses after liquidity was withdrawn shortly after the token’s launch, he said the allegation is “not true.”

According to The Block on the 14th (local time), Adams spokesperson Todd Shapiro said on X, “Reports that Eric Adams moved funds from NYC Token are unfounded and untrue,” adding, “He has never touched investor funds, nor did he derive any personal benefit from the token’s launch.” He went on to claim that “no funds were withdrawn from NYC Token.”

Adams’ camp attributed the sharp price swings to volatility commonly seen in early-stage crypto projects. Shapiro said, “Like many new digital assets, NYC Token experienced market volatility in its early days after launch.”

That position, however, differs from the NYC Token project’s own explanation. The project’s operators said on X the same day, “Demand surged immediately after launch, prompting partners to carry out a liquidity rebalance,” adding, “There was a transaction in which funds left the liquidity pool, and this was part of fund operations for TWAP (time-weighted average price) purposes, after which some liquidity was added back.”

On-chain analytics circles have taken a more critical view. Crypto analysis account Rune Crypto pointed out that roughly $3.4 million in liquidity was withdrawn shortly after launch, raising the possibility of a rug pull. Blockchain visualization platform Bubblemaps likewise analyzed that a wallet tied to the token deployer withdrew about $2.5 million worth of USDC near the price peak, then, after the price fell more than 60%, added roughly $1.5 million back into the liquidity pool.

According to Bubblemaps, 60% of about 4,300 traders incurred losses, with many recording losses of less than $1,000. However, about 200 people lost between $1,000 and $10,000, and some investors suffered losses of tens of thousands of dollars. At least 15 cases of losses exceeding $100,000 were tallied.

The NYC Token project says the token is not for investment purposes but is intended as a vehicle for nonprofit activities and community education support. According to the project website, NYC Token was issued on Solana with a total supply of 1 billion tokens. Of that, 70% is categorized as the “NYC Token Reserve” and specified as excluded from circulating supply. However, detailed information—including the list of partners involved in the liquidity rebalance—has not yet been disclosed.