- Trending
- Comments
- Latest
Hunter Biden, son of former U.S. President Joe Biden, is set to launch a memecoin called $LAPTOP on Sept. 9, turning the laptop controversy that dominated the 2020 election into a tradable crypto asset on Coinbase’s Base network.
Biden announced the launch on X on September 7th 2026, posting the token’s ticker and launch date alongside a video featuring media coverage of the laptop controversy. The token is expected to launch on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, with a total supply of one billion tokens.
The launch is already facing resistance from parts of the crypto community.
Crypto traders criticised the project before its official launch, while crypto exchange Kraken deleted a promotional post after users pushed back. Video journalist Andrew Callaghan, whose mailing list was named among the groups expected to receive tokens, also distanced himself from the project.
According to details reported by The Wall Street Journal, 30% of the one-billion-token supply will go to the founders, including Biden.
The founders’ allocation will be locked for six months and released over more than two years.
Another 20% will be distributed through airdrops. The group includes wallets that lost money on President Donald Trump’s $TRUMP memecoin, as well as Biden’s Substack subscribers and subscribers to a mailing list associated with Callaghan.
That distribution gives $LAPTOP an unusual target.
Instead of simply trying to attract new memecoin traders, the project is also directing part of its supply toward people who lost money on another politically connected cryptocurrency.
Trump’s $TRUMP token has fallen sharply from its January 2025 peak, making its losing holders a significant part of the story surrounding the new token.
The token also comes with a conditional supply mechanism.
According to the Journal’s report, up to 30% of $LAPTOP’s supply could be destroyed depending on whether certain political and market events occur.
Those conditions reportedly include a Democrat winning the 2028 presidential election, $LAPTOP achieving a higher market value than $TRUMP and Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high.
Tokens connected to conditions that do not occur could instead be directed toward charity.
A reduction in supply can theoretically increase the value of the remaining tokens if demand stays constant or increases. But that does not guarantee that $LAPTOP will appreciate after launch.
The official token has not even launched, but traders have already created imitation versions.
According to The Defiant, more than a dozen copycat tokens appeared across other blockchain networks shortly after news of the project emerged. Those tokens collectively generated millions of dollars in trading volume, even though they are not the official $LAPTOP scheduled to launch on Base.
A separate blockchain investigation by Bitquery identified hundreds of tokens using the $LAPTOP ticker across several networks, with large amounts of reported trading volume that did not correspond to comparable amounts of actual stablecoin movement.
This states one of the biggest risks surrounding celebrity memecoins, once a famous name and ticker become public, traders can create imitation tokens before the real project reaches the market.
The launch comes after Biden has become increasingly vocal about cryptocurrency.
In June, he described decentralised digital currency and blockchain technology as the “inevitable future” while responding to a question about the financial system on X.
He has also spoken positively about Bitcoin and said he wanted his artwork to be sold on the blockchain with Bitcoin accepted as a payment option.
His entry into the memecoin market therefore represents more than a celebrity token launch. It is part of a broader shift in which politicians, celebrities and other high-profile personalities are using cryptocurrency to turn personal brands and political moments into tradable digital assets.
The challenge is whether attention around Hunter Biden’s name can translate into lasting demand for the token.
Memecoins are largely driven by attention, community interest and speculation rather than traditional business fundamentals. Their prices can rise rapidly when public interest peaks and fall just as quickly when that attention disappears.
The early reaction to $LAPTOP suggests that the project will have to deal with another problem even before launch: the crypto market is already crowded with political tokens, and traders are increasingly questioning whether celebrity names alone are enough to create lasting value.
For now, $LAPTOP is scheduled to launch on September 9.
But the more interesting question may be what happens after the headlines disappear.
Will Hunter Biden’s laptop become another successful crypto brand, or will $LAPTOP become another political memecoin that peaks with the hype and fades with it?
Copyright © 2025 - The Bit Gazette.
