Ex-NYC Mayor’s NYC Token Allegedly Rug-Pulled; Over $3M Drained from Liquidity
The NYC token, launched using former New York City mayor Eric Adams’ name, collapsed within hours amid allegations of insider selling and liquidity manipulation. On-chain trackers (BubbleMaps, Lookonchain, Rune Crypto) flagged one deployer-linked wallet (9Ty4M) for creating a one-sided liquidity pool, removing roughly $2.5M in USDC near the price peak, later adding ~$1.5M and extracting ~ $1M — with total liquidity pulled later reported above $3.4M. Market cap surged to nearly $600M at peak before dropping below $100M after the liquidity moves. Ownership concentration was extreme: one wallet held ~70% of supply and the top 10 wallets controlled ~99%, enabling insiders to dictate price. Multiple imitation NYC tokens also appeared, fragmenting liquidity and confusing traders. Reported losses included a single trader losing $473,500 in under 20 minutes. Investigators stressed there was no official government backing or public funds involved. The incident has renewed concerns about politically themed tokens, market manipulation, and trader vulnerability during rapid launches. Keywords: NYC token, rug pull, liquidity pull, token launch, token concentration, on-chain analysis.
Bearish
This event is bearish for market sentiment, especially for meme and politically themed tokens. The alleged rug pull and the extraction of over $3M from liquidity pools highlight acute counterparty and concentration risks: one wallet held ~70% of supply and top 10 wallets ~99%, enabling rapid price manipulation and mass sell-offs. Short-term effects: heightened volatility, panic selling, and rapid de-risking of similar token launches — liquidity will flee comparable projects and traders may tighten position sizing or avoid newly launched political/meme tokens. Exchanges and DEX liquidity providers may see higher withdrawal activity and lower participation in high-risk pools. Long-term effects: reduced retail trust in politically-branded tokens, greater scrutiny from on-chain analysts and possibly regulators, and a potential shift toward stricter launch practices (timelocks, vesting, verified backing). Past parallels include multiple high-profile rug pulls (e.g., Squid Game token, various meme coin packs) that produced immediate market drawdowns in niche token sectors and longer-lasting investor wariness. Overall, expect reduced demand and price pressure on risky token categories until transparency and safeguards improve.