Former New York mayor’s cryptocurrency plummets by 80% immediately after launch

Note: not financial advice!

Bubblemaps analysts have reported suspicious activity around the NYC Token meme coin, which was presented by former New York City Mayor Eric Adams on January 12. According to them, the wallet associated with the token’s launch made about $ 1 million in profit by manipulating the liquidity pool on the decentralized exchange Meteora.

During the presentation, Adams stated that the purpose of the coin is to fight «anti-Americanism» and anti-Semitism, and all proceeds will be donated to a non-profit organization. He also emphasized that blockchain can make city governance more transparent and efficient.

However, the NYC Token website contains almost no information about specific areas of the project. According to the tokenomics, 40% of the 1 billion coin issue is intended for community rewards, 25% for liquidity, 15% for development, and the remaining 20% for marketing and the team.

After the launch, the token’s price plummeted from $ 0.47 to about $ 0.10 in less than half an hour. Capitalization dropped from $ 500 million to $ 128 million. Analysts noted that the wallet associated with the coin’s creator first deposited 80 million NYC into the liquidity pool and then withdrew $ 2.5 million in USDC at the peak of the price, returning only $ 1.5 million after the fall.

Online researcher Rune suggested that investors could have lost about $ 3.4 million. Bubblemaps compared the situation to the launch of the LIBRA token, which was previously advertised by Argentine President Javier Milei.

Thus, serious doubts have arisen around NYC Token about the transparency and integrity of its launch, and the incident has already received signs of a potential «ragpull.»