Hunter Biden's $LAPTOP Memecoin Launches on Base, Crashes 95% in First Hour 🪦

Hunter Biden's $LAPTOP memecoin, issued on Coinbase's Ethereum layer-2 network Base, fell roughly 95% within its first hour of trading on Wednesday after opening at $199.50 and sliding to $26.88 by 12:30 pm UTC, according to CoinGecko data. DexScreener figures show the token's fully diluted valuation (FDV) wicked above $200 billion before plunging more than 90% to as low as $2 billion. The token recorded more than $2.5 million in trading volume on launch day. "The symbol they used to try to end me is now a symbol of resilience, redemption and recovery," Biden wrote on X, acknowledging what he called cynicism around memecoins and labeling President Donald Trump's $TRUMP token a "grift." Biden warned buyers not to expect him or anyone else to make $LAPTOP more valuable.

The project had first surfaced on Monday when Biden posted the ticker on X alongside a montage of media coverage of the MacBook he reportedly left at a Delaware repair shop in 2019. The New York Post published files purported to come from the device before the 2020 election. The Wall Street Journal first reported the launch plan, and Biden personally confirmed it on X rather than lending his name to a third-party team. The launch was scheduled for September 9. Channel 5 host Andrew Callaghan told the WSJ his program had nothing to do with the coin, despite a Channel 5 mailing list appearing among airdrop-eligible groups.

$LAPTOP has a fixed supply of 1 billion tokens, with 350 million circulating at launch. Founders, including Biden, are allocated 300 million tokens, or 30% of supply, locked for six months and vested monthly over the following 24 months. Another 30% is tied to political, cultural and crypto predictions: tokens are burned when specified outcomes, including a Democrat winning the 2028 election, occur, and released to charity otherwise. The team announced plans to burn 10 million tokens, or 1% of supply, within the first week of launch through its predictions program.

The remaining supply is earmarked for two airdrop rounds. The initial round represents 10% of total supply, of which 2% is reserved for wallets that lost money on $TRUMP, 8% for eligible subscribers to Biden's "Where's Hunter" Substack newsletter, and additional tranches for other community groups. Biden said $LAPTOP was meant as a political statement, not an investment product, and the project's disclosures describe it as a digital collectible with no utility, ownership rights, voting rights, yield or profit-sharing rights.

Criticism mounted before trading began. Crypto trader DonAlt called the launch an "utter embarrassment," writing that Biden had "finally been handed a platform" and used it to launch a memecoin. Digital investigator Stephen Findeisen, known as Coffeezilla, called $LAPTOP a "shitcoin" and urged followers not to buy it. Thinking Crypto host Tony Edward demanded full wallet disclosures and third-party audits, writing that without them the project amounted to "just another rugpull." Crypto exchange Kraken deleted a social media post promoting the token after traders questioned the promotion, though Kraken has not said it dropped plans to list $LAPTOP. Base founder Jesse Pollak said in an X post that the project had contacted his team but that Base made a "conscious decision" not to help with the token's design or promotion.

After the price collapse, Biden said the team's allocation is locked and that neither he nor his team sold tokens. "The team's allocation is locked. Nobody on our side sold, and nobody could have," Biden wrote, adding, "I, personally, have not made a single dollar." He blamed the price action on insufficient liquidity and "snipers," automated trading bots programmed to buy tokens the instant trading opens. The LAPTOP team said in a Medium post that it held no presale and made no allocations to investors or influencers, and that the contract address, token allocations, a Hacken security audit and a white paper were published before trading began. The team said the initial pool launched at $0.05 per token but the market maker's liquidity was insufficient to meet demand, and announced it would deploy 4 million tokens, or 0.4% of supply, as liquidity incentives for Aerodrome pools starting at midnight UTC on Thursday. Bubblemaps data showed that founders, airdrop wallets, the foundation and liquidity wallets accounted for nearly 90% of the token's supply before launch. Entities tied to the Trump Organization control 80% of $TRUMP's supply under their own multi-year vesting schedule, and $TRUMP has lost more than 90% of its market capitalization since President Trump and Melania Trump launched their memecoins in January 2025.