Hunter Biden’s foray into the world of cryptocurrency has ended in a familiar disaster, as his newly launched meme coin cratered by ninety eight percent shortly after its debut. The token, dubbed LAPTOP and inspired by the long running controversy surrounding his personal computer, saw a brief and chaotic surge upon its Tuesday release. After starting at thirty seven dollars, the price spiked to nearly two hundred twenty five dollars before collapsing to roughly sixty cents by Thursday.
The rapid descent immediately triggered accusations of a rug pull across social media, a term used when creators dump their holdings at the peak to leave retail investors with worthless assets. Hunter Biden defended the crash on X, arguing that technical glitches and predatory traders known as snipers created an artificial price spike that the available liquidity simply could not sustain. He maintained that the current lower price represents a stabilization rather than a scam.
This volatility mirrors a growing trend of political figures attempting to capitalize on the speculative nature of meme coins. Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams faced similar backlash when his NYCToken plummeted eighty percent in minutes, while Donald Trump’s namesake coin has seen a seventy seven percent drop over the last year despite some early gains for the former president. These patterns suggest a recurring cycle where political celebrity drives initial hype that cannot be supported by actual value.
Wall Street veterans are not surprised by the outcome, with some analysts calling the collapse one of the most predictable events in recent financial history. Despite these criticisms, Biden pointed toward his efforts at transparency, claiming he provided security audits and token allocations ahead of time to prove there was no insider manipulation. However, those defenses have done little to soothe investors who watched their portfolios vanish in less than forty eight hours.
