Former NY Mayor Eric Adams announces memecoin to ‘address antisemitism, anti-Americanism' — How to buy

Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced the launch of his cryptocurrency memecoin ‘NYC Token’, telling reporters that revenue raised will be used to address “anti-Americanism, antisemitism, and teach children about blockchain technology”.

Addressing reporters in NYC on 12 January, Adams said that this comes from learnings as Mayor for four years, and amid what he called growing “antisemitism and anti-Americanism” and using “up-to-date technology to address this issue”.

Notably, Fortune and Binance reported that the token is not yet available for purchase.

‘Going to address many of the issues’: Eric Adams

“Being Mayor for four years, there are many successes we've walked away with and there's a lot of things that could have been done better. We learned a lot in the process. And what I'm seeing across the country in general, specifically in New York, is an increase in antisemitism and anti-Americanism. Our goal is ‘How do we use up-to-date technology to address this issue?’” Adams said.

He added, “You heard me for years, talk about cryptocurrency and what it means. I took my first three paycheques using cryptocurrency. I was not merely talking about this as a flash and it's going to disappear. No. This is going to be how we are going to address many of the issues you're seeing facing, not only the city, but also cities in America.”

He was referring to taking his first three pay cheques as Mayor in 2022 in Bitcoin and Ethereum, which earned him the nickname “Bitcoin Mayor”, as per the Binance report.

On his plans for the token, he said, “One focus we have for New York City is to use the revenue generated to address anti-Americanism, antisemitism, to teach our children how to embrace the blockchain technology, how to run cities correctly.”

Notably, there are no details available on how these goals will be met, and how Adams plans to go about realising his targets.

WATCH: Eric Adams announces memecoin NYC Token

NYC Token: What is it? How to buy?

The Fortune report added that while Adams announced his plans, a number of questions remain. His partner and platform have not been announced. Nor was the release date revealed. There are also no details of how funds will be used.

The official website for NYC Token showed a tab for Whitepaper, which at time of writing, was inactive. The website however displayed figures claiming that the token already has $2.5 million market cap, 1 billion tokens in supply, and as many as 1,000 holders, till time of writing.

The website described the token as “an incentive to embrace the future of digital currency” and “carries that same spirit of innovation and ambition”. It claims to be “built for the speed of New York; with military-grade encryption and decentralized architecture protects your assets; and governed by the community, for the community.”

The website also gave steps for interested buyers: How to Buy

• Get a Wallet: Download MetaMask or your preferred crypto wallet and create an account.
• Add ETH: Purchase ETH from an exchange and send it to your wallet address.
• Connect to DEX: Go to Uniswap and connect your wallet to start trading.
• Swap for NYC: Enter NYC Token contract address and swap your ETH for NYC tokens.