Key facts
- Hunter Biden denies profiting from his $LAPTOP memecoin, stating his team's allocation is locked and no tokens were sold.
- The $LAPTOP memecoin crashed 99% from its peak within hours of trading.
- The token was trading at about $0.60 on Thursday, down 98% since its debut.
- Hunter Biden stated that technical issues and predatory traders caused the price spike.
- Other political meme coins, such as Eric Adams' NYCToken and Donald Trump's $TRUMP coin, have also experienced significant volatility and sharp declines.
Hunter Biden has denied profiting from his newly launched $LAPTOP memecoin, stating that his team's allocation is locked and no tokens were sold. The cryptocurrency experienced a dramatic 99% crash from its peak within hours of trading, mirroring the volatile trajectory of other political meme coins.
Biden explained that technical issues, coupled with predatory traders known as 'snipers,' caused an initial price spike that the available liquidity could not sustain. He asserted that the token has since stabilized at healthy levels. The $LAPTOP memecoin began trading at $37 on Tuesday, surged to a peak of nearly $225, but fell to about $2 by midday. By Thursday, it was trading at approximately $0.60, marking a 98% decline since its debut.
This pattern of rapid ascent followed by a sharp decline is reminiscent of other politically-themed meme coins. Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams faced criticism when his NYCToken plunged 80% shortly after its launch in January. Similarly, Donald Trump's $TRUMP coin has exhibited significant volatility, dropping 77% over the past year.
David Weisberger, a Wall Street veteran and co-founder of trading platform CoinRoutes, described the $LAPTOP launch as a predictable 'rug pull,' even more so than previous high-profile meme coin launches. Biden, however, emphasized transparency, noting in a Medium post that no presale tokens were issued to investors or influencers and that contract address, token allocation details, and a security audit were publicly shared before the launch.