Investors call crypto coin backed by ex-NYC Mayor Eric Adams a scam after currency rapidly drops in value
The rapid plummet of a digital coin promoted by ex-New York City Mayor Eric Adams is drawing outrage from investors and crypto mavens who say the debut of the currency resembles a “rug pull” or “pump-and-dump” scheme.“NYC Token” fell a jaw-dropping 82% in value less than an hour after opening Monday afternoon — and as someone withdrew $2.5 million in liquidity from the asset.The cryptocurrency reached a market capitalization of around $600 million shortly after its debut on the Solana blockchain, following Adams’ promotion of the coin at a Monday morning press conference in Times Square.“This thing is about to take off like crazy,” Adams said in a video promo for the currency.The token — proceeds from which would go to unspecified efforts to fight antisemitism and so-called “anti-Americanism,” the ex-mayor bizarrely said — opened at $0.60 per share.But its value quickly plummeted to $0.11 as a party took out $2.5 million from the token.The token was valued around $0.13 as of Wednesday afternoon.Observers noted that the sudden collapse bore the hallmarks of what is known as a “rug pull” scheme — similar to a “pump-and-dump” — in which unscrupulous entrepreneurs drain the value out of a cryptocurrency shortly after they launch it.The identity of the party that withdrew the $2.5 million is not yet known.
About $1.5 million of those funds were later put back in the NYC Token.The developers of the coin likely made a cool $1 million off the maneuver, Nicolas Vaiman, the founder of crypto analytics firm Bubblemaps, told Fortune.A NYC Token spokesperson told The Post: “After the launch of NYC Token, there was a lot of demand.“Our market maker made adjustments in an attempt to keep trading running smoothly, and as part of this process, moved liquidity.The team has not sold any tokens and is subject to lockups and transfer restrictions.”The spokesperson added that nobody from the team behind the digital currency withdrew any mo...