Eric Adams Under Scrutiny After His Crypto Coin Crashes Hours After Launch

NEW YORK CITY — A newly launched crypto token backed by former mayor Eric Adams is under scrutiny after it crashed under suspicious circumstances on Monday, according to reports and crypto insiders.

Adams appeared in Times Square on Monday to promote his “NYC Token” which he said a portion of the proceeds would go to fight antisemitism and educate children about crypto blockchain, according to Yahoo Finance and Fortune.

Following the launch, investors briefly brought up its market cap to $600 million, but then crypto observers online noticed that Adams' team pulled his share of $NYC coin from the market just as its value was rising.

Those actions are known as a "rug pull" where someone announcing a coin and allows it to rise in price before pulling their liquidity and leaving buyers with a less valuable token, according to crypto experts.

According to reports, an account linked to the coin's developers or Adams may have collected more than $2.5 million following the crash.

A wallet linked to the token's developer reportedly removed $2.43 million in liquidity after the launch. Then about $1.5 million was later returned, leaving roughly $932,000 unaccounted for.