New York's 120 billion funding gap exploded! Former Mayor Adams meme coin involved killing 60% of traders

The new mayor, Mamdani, announced a $12 billion funding gap for the two fiscal years, and Adams refuted the denial of leaving $8 billion in reserves. The background of the controversy is that Adams launched the NYC meme coin in January, and the market value collapsed from 600 to 10, and the deployer withdrew 250 USDC from the high, with 60% of the 4,300 people losing money and 15 people losing more than 10 million.

Mamdani revealed the 120 billion funding gap financial crisis

! [New York’s $12 billion funding gap] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-87a9b3933a-4a741aac65-8b7abd-e2c905.webp)

In anticipation of the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years, Mamdani’s office held a press conference to discuss the so-called “Adams budget crisis.” At its core, the statement highlights the critical challenges facing the city’s finances in the coming years. Mamdani blamed Adams, arguing that the crisis stemmed from a long-standing lack of investment in essential services, including rental assistance, shelter operations, and special education.

“This imbalance has hollowed out our city’s finances, leaving a huge chasm that is unbearable,” Mamdani said. He also added that the scale of this fiscal crisis is worse than during the Great Depression. Mamdani cited specific examples, according to the mayor’s office, which Adams budgeted $8.6M in cash assistance for fiscal year 2026, but current projections suggest that the actual cost will be closer to $17b.

“Mayor Adams knew his term might be coming to an end, so he chose political self-preservation over fiscal responsibility. It’s not just poor governance, it’s dereliction of duty,” he said. This accusation is extremely harsh and directly questions Adams’ governance ability and ethics. If true, the $120 billion funding gap means that New York City may face difficult choices between service cuts, tax increases, or debt.

Mamdani also criticized former Governor Andrew Cuomo for systematically draining funds from New York City. Mamdani cited a recent report from the CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance, according to which New York City contributed 54.5% of state fiscal revenue, or $688 billion, but only received 40.5 percent of state fiscal funding, or $476 billion, between 2021 and 2022. This uneven distribution of funds persists for a long time, exacerbating the city’s fiscal strain.

The three major sources of budget gaps

The cost of the service is underestimated: The actual demand for cash assistance is 1.7 billion, the budget is only 8.6 billion, and the gap is 840 million

Cuts in essential services: Long-term underinvestment in rental assistance, shelter and special education accumulates a deficit

State funding imbalances: New York City contributed 54.5% of state revenue but only received 40.5% of the funding, with an annual loss of $21.2 billion

Cuomo did not respond to the accusations, but Adams quickly fought back. Adams denied the allegations made against him by Mamdani on the social media platform X. “I didn’t leave a ‘budget loophole’. I left over $80M in reserves. Only people who don’t understand balance sheets would call it a crisis,” Adams wrote, adding, “Every budget passed during my administration was approved by the City Council, including Mayor Mamdani’s fellow City Council members.”

NYC meme coin scandal saw 60% of traders lose money

Less than a month after Adams left office, the city’s financial woes were revealed. Since then, the former mayor has worked to raise awareness of the “growing anti-Semitism and anti-American sentiment” in the United States. As part of this effort, Adams recently created a token that quickly caught the attention of observers who noticed similarities to past meme coin controversies.

On January 12, Adams made a high-profile foray into the crypto space with the launch of his own token, NYC. However, this promotion caused significant losses to most traders, much like the classic “rug pulling” scam. The NYSE’s market capitalization soared to $6M at one point before plummeting below $10K. This 99.98% drop is extremely rare in meme coin history, indicating that its price is entirely supported by a speculative bubble.

Subsequent analysis conducted by blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps found that just as the NYC price peaked, wallets associated with the token’s deployers withdrew approximately $250K in USDC from a liquidity pool that supported transactions. This behavior of draining liquidity at high points is a typical Rug Pull feature, where deployers withdraw funds when prices soar, preventing subsequent buyers from selling.

After the token’s price dropped by more than 60%, the project creators reinjected $150K worth of tokens into the pool. However, this move failed to stabilize the price. This “pump-and-inject” operation seems more like an attempt to cover up evidence or appease angry investors than a real bailout in the eyes of the crypto community. $150K is much lower than the $250K originally withdrawn, indicating that deployers are still making a net profit of $100K.

Bubblemaps then reported that 60% of the 4,300 traders who invested in the token suffered losses. More than half of the traders lost less than $1000, while others faced even more losses, with 15 of them losing more than $10k. This distribution of losses shows that a small number of heavy investors have suffered a devastating blow, while most small investors have suffered a wide range of losses despite limited losses.

The moral dilemma of public officials pushing meme coins

Amid increasing scrutiny from all parties, a spokesperson for Adams issued a statement denying that the token was issued for personal or financial gain. However, this defense pales in the face of market performance. A token launched by a former mayor caused a 60% investor loss in a short period of time, and regardless of the original intention, the result was a serious damage to public trust.

Since then, Adams has continued to publicly promote the New York City token. As the budget debate with Mamdani’s office unfolds, Adams’ defense of his political performance becomes increasingly entangled with the issues surrounding his launch of meme coins. This double controversy has severely damaged Adams’ credibility, questioning both financial management capabilities and ethical integrity.

This controversy highlights the ethical dilemmas of public officials’ involvement in the cryptocurrency market. When a person with public power and public influence launches a highly speculative meme coin, where is the line? Although Mamdani did not directly mention NYC tokens at the budget press conference, the scandal has become part of Adams’ political legacy, reinforcing with allegations of a $120 billion funding gap and painting a fiscally irresponsible and morally corrupt former mayor.