Memecoin Mayhem—Former NYC Mayor Rugpulls into Crypto Scam Allegations

Memecoin and politicians might not sound like a pair that would connect. 

DOGE and PEPE typically rise and fall in cycles, and occasionally make headlines in crypto news. Hype and pump and dumps seem to be commonplace when these coins do show up, making many wary about the potential for crypto scams. But 2026 is seeing memecoin news become more and more widespread on social media and crypto sites. 

If history shows us anything, it's that there’s money to be made with memecoin. It’s typically done through a crypto rug pull, when a token’s developer sells off or withdraws large portions from circulation after its value nears a peak, causing a crash. Life after politics for former NYC mayor Eric Adams has now been fraught with allegations of crypto scams as his $NYC token jumped to a 600 million dollar valuation just minutes after its launch, just to crash down to 80% of its previous value. Crypto scammers are everywhere, and Adams could be one of them. 

Eric Adams’ Crypto History

Adams is no stranger to controversy and allegations. In September 2024 Adams was criminally indicted with multiple charges, including various counts of fraud, bribery, tampering of evidence, and campaign funding from foreign sources. Even though the Trump administration had the Department of Justice drop all charges in February of 2025, the circumstances hurt Adams bid for reelection, as he withdrew officially in September of that year. 

Despite all of this, Adams was known for being a pro crypto leader while still in office: He took his first paycheck as mayor in both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Before he left office, he signed an executive order to form the NYC Office of Digital Assets and Blockchain. His administration said the newly formed office would “promote the responsible use of digital assets and blockchain technologies, grow economic opportunities for New Yorkers, attract world-class talent, and reinforce the city’s standing as the world’s hub for financial and technological innovation”. It makes sense that his new life as a private citizen would see him continue to promote crypto, even if he had to shake off controversy. 

How Did NYC Token Become a Meme?

The Launch of NYC Token

After spending the rest of his year out of the US, he came back to New York to announce the launch of NYC Token ($NYC) on January 12th, which was launched the very same day with 1 billion in total supply. Based on the Solana blockchain, Adams framed the token as a way to fund fighting against anti-semitism and Anti-Americanism, while also developing education in crypto and scholarships. While Adams didn’t publicly reveal who he worked with to launch, insiders claimed that Frank Carone, lawyer and former chief advisor of Adams’ office, was heavily involved. Spokesperson for NYC Token Todd Shapiro admitted that Yoself Sefi Zvielvi, real estate investor and former client of Carone, was involved as well. 

NYC Token’ site promotes its asset as “more than a token—it's a movement”, and claims that 70% of the token reserve is held in its own wallet with no plans to put the portion into circulation. 

With valuation hitting $600 million dollars in just a few short minutes, it seemed fair to give it the memecoin status due to how fast it hit that number. For reference, $DOGE has seen spikes and drops by over 1000% since its 2013 inception. 

According to Nicholas Vaiman, founder of crypto analytics firm Bubblemaps, 80% of the 4000 accounts that had invested in NYC Token did so before Adams publicly announced the launch, per his interview with The Associated Press. Just like Adams’ former dealings as mayor, the launch had questions of legitimacy surrounding it.  

NYC’s Meme-worthy Crash

What really solidified the token’s meme status was the ensuing fall. 

X account CryptoRune claims a screenshot shows the former mayor withdrew 3,400,000 million dollars worth of the token from the liquidity pool, declaring “it’s now a rug-pull”. The post was made in the early evening of the launch day. The later night of the launch and into January 13th saw a wallet linked to the deployer pull out $2.5 million in liquidity nearing the token’s peak. 

After the token’s order price fell by 60 to 80%, $1.5 million of the liquidity was put back, with NYC Token’s official X/Twitter account claiming “our partners had to rebalance the liquidity” as a defense against the wave of rug pull and crypto scam accusations. As it currently stands, roughly 1 million dollars worth of token has not been put back into circulation.

Who the partners are remains vague. Beyond Carone and Zvielvi, crypto brokerage FalconX and the token’s developer c18 digital LLC could be included. 

Shapiro, speaking on behalf of Adams, said that Adams himself did not pull money out, and that any claims he did so were false, which they further iterated on social media this past Wednesday. The post on X goes on to explain that “Like many newly launched digital assets, the NYC Token experienced market volatility: and that “Mr. Adams remains committed to responsible innovation and to using emerging technologies to strengthen trust, education, and shared civic values”.  

How Much was Actually Lost? 

There’s no hard numbers for how much investors have lost. Crypto valuations are generally calculated from latest prices the asset was traded at, then multiplied by either circulating or total supply. The 600 million dollar figure at launch is only an implied valuation, referred to as fully diluted valuation (FDV). 

When the 2.5 million in liquidity was pulled, that caused the valuation to take a major crash to its current valuation at $135 million FDV. The $1.5 million in liquidity that was reintroduced only added fuel to the rug pull accusations.  

However, this only covers how much market value was lost, not how much individuals lost. Bubblemaps reporting shows that most of the 4000 initial accounts lost money, with some traders losing up to a $100 thousand dollars. 

The aftermath might be too soon to clearly state, but DEX Screener shows liquidity at $3.8 million and $8.7 thousand dollars in trading volume, indicating things have cooled off somewhat, even if the FDV and market cap are substantially lower. There’s still mystery as to who actually owns the deployer wallet, who else is behind NYC Token, and if money from the tokens funding will actually go into civic investments. 

Are Memecoin Rug Pulls Rising? 

NYC isn’t the only memecoin tied to politicians: Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have coins officially tied to their names, with MELANIA’s price increasing by 50% since 2026 started, bouncing back after dips. 

Argentina President Javier Milei is under investigation for his own token, $LIBRA, also being accused of a suspected rug pull scam in addition to corruption charges. Upon launch, the Argentinian memecoin hit a valuation over $4 billion dollars, and in just a few short hours later, investors started pulling out. 

Celebrities have gotten in on the action, too. 

HAWK, made in partnership with internet figure Haily Welch, was the center of a rug pull allegation that led to her fall in popularity and ongoing legal issues. Kayne West launched the $YZY token, which crashed by 60% by the end of its launch day.  

The beauty and pain of crypto lies in just how adaptable it is. At best, memecoins can function as digital collectibles that represent internet culture. At worst, they can be tools for misuse against the unassuming investors.  Whether intentional or not, rug pulls are a serious concern as part of broader crypto scams.