A memecoin launched by former New York City Mayor Eric Adams has experienced significant volatility. The NYC Token had no fixed issue price, launched at $0.15-$0.20, peaked near $0.70, and is now trading around $0.13.
Crypto data and security firm Nansen has examined the on-chain activity to glean what unfolded during the early trading window. Nicolai Sondergaard, Research Analyst at Nansen, shared this comment with CI:
“Based on the behavior of removing liquidity, it does seem to fit the umbrella term that is ‘rug pulls’. If the rebalancing was to be legitimate, it would have been announced beforehand. It would also have made more sense to adjust the ranges instead of fully removing liquidity from the pool, only to add some again later. What they did effectively trapped traders, forcing many to sell at a loss in a lower liquidity environment, and adding liquidity back in does not undo the damage done. Neither does setting up [Dollar Cost Averaging] orders undo the damages, but rather, it’s a bandaid solution.”
A rug pull was once a common scam during the ICO heyday when issuers would launch an offering and then quickly remove funds, leaving other holders holding the bag.
He adds that, according to the PnL leaderboard, the biggest realized profit is $508k and the biggest realized loss is $713K.
Other reports have lambasted the NYC Token.
WSJ.com noted that one of the creators withdrew $2.5 million soon after its launch, then returned $1.5 million. The report said it was not exactly clear who took the money out.
The NYC Token X account claimed they were in it for the long haul following criticism of the offering.
It was not immediately clear whether the activity would lead to legal action.
Statement: pic.twitter.com/krRJEV4tjp
— NYC Token (@buynyctoken) January 13, 2026
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