Hunter Biden launched a memecoin called $LAPTOP on Wednesday morning. The token initially surged, reaching as high as $22 at 8:05 a.m. EDT. It then plummeted and was worth just $1.79 by 12:20 p.m.
The coin dropped about 95% in value after its launch. According to The Hill, the price movement is consistent with the typical lifespan of memecoins, which have no intrinsic value but often surge because of social media hype surrounding their launch.
Memecoins launched by other political figures, including President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, also plummeted in value after their launches.
“But why would I ever want to support a meme coin? Why something that has been so misused by grifters? I understand the cynicism,” Biden wrote on social media the day before the coin’s launch.
“Trump has broken trust in everything he’s ever touched. And his token was no exception,” he added.
READ: Nearly 1 million Trump memecoin buyers lost $3.8 billion, analysis finds (July 6, 2026)
On Tuesday night, Biden responded to conservative criticism, suggesting his token would turn out differently.
“You just have PTSD from Trump, Melania, Kanye, Lil Pump, and Andrew Tate’s memecoins. All MAGA btw,” he said.
“You should not expect me or anyone else to make this token more valuable for you,” Biden wrote in a post on X on Tuesday, hours before the token’s launch. “$LAPTOP isn’t just about owning something, it’s about saying something. Everybody gets knocked down. How do we help each other and our country to get back up?”
The coin was reportedly inspired by the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop. Hunter Biden, the former president’s son, left his personal laptop containing information about his business dealings and personal life at a computer repair shop. The laptop later became the subject of years of scrutiny by Republicans over Biden’s business ventures and personal life.
A total of 1 billion $LAPTOP tokens were expected to be issued to the coin’s founders, cryptocurrency wallet owners who lost money on Trump’s memecoin, Biden’s Substack subscribers and people on a mailing list curated by Biden’s friend Andrew Callaghan, according to The Wall Street Journal.
READ: Bitcoin continues to spiral as Trump’s crypto advisor David Sacks steps down (March 31, 2026)
Callaghan’s company said in a statement that Callaghan has “nothing to do with” $LAPTOP and that Biden was simply using a mailing list provided by the company to “expand his audience.”
“As we have told our followers numerous times, we do not believe crypto is a legitimate investment,” the statement said.
An analysis released two months ago by cryptocurrency analytics firm Nansen found that nearly 1 million people had lost a total of $3.8 billion after buying President Trump’s $TRUMP memecoin.
According to The New York Times, the Nansen analysis was based on publicly visible blockchain transactions and showed that 988,905 accounts had lost money on the memecoin as of the end of June. That represented about two out of three $TRUMP buyers.