What to know about the botched launch of Eric Adams’ new crypto token

For a moment, Eric Adams was riding high.

Fresh off trips to Dubai and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the now jobless ex-mayor of New York City was back in Times Square on Monday to announce his first initiative as a private citizen: a new cryptocurrency coin that would also serve to beat back antisemitism and “anti-Americanism.”

“We’re about to change the game,” he promised, without describing how, exactly, the digital asset would support those lofty ambitions. “This thing...