Hunter Biden has prepared to launch a 1 billion-supply meme coin called LAPTOP on Coinbase-developed Base on Sept. 9, with part of the token allocation set aside for people who lost money trading President Donald Trump’s TRUMP meme coin.
Summary
- Hunter Biden is set to launch the 1 billion supply LAPTOP meme coin on Base on Sept. 9, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- The founding team will receive 30% of the supply, locked for six months and gradually unlocked over two years.
- Another 20% will be distributed through two airdrops that include users who lost money trading Donald Trump’s TRUMP meme coin.
- Up to 30% of LAPTOP’s supply could be burned if preset events occur, including Bitcoin reaching a new all time high or LAPTOP overtaking TRUMP by fully diluted valuation.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sept. 7 that Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, is part of the founding team behind the project, which takes its name from the laptop controversy that became a major political issue during the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
LAPTOP will use a token distribution model that reserves 30% of the total supply for its founding team. According to the Journal, the allocation will remain locked for six months before gradually becoming available over a two-year period.
Another 20% has been designated for two rounds of airdrops, with eligibility extending to people who previously lost money on TRUMP. Hunter Biden’s Substack subscribers, friends and people on a mailing list maintained by video journalist Andrew Callaghan are expected to qualify as well.
LAPTOP meme coin will target TRUMP holders with airdrop
The decision to allocate tokens to TRUMP investors places the new project directly alongside the political meme coin market that developed after Donald Trump entered the sector.
TRUMP launched shortly before Trump returned to the White House in January 2025 and initially recorded a sharp price rally before losing most of its value.
In July, crypto.news reported that nearly 989,000 wallets that purchased TRUMP had accumulated a combined $3.81 billion in realized and unrealized losses through the end of June, citing blockchain data from Nansen. Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure showed a $636 million payout connected to the meme coin and at least $1.4 billion in crypto-related income.
The losses remained concentrated among retail holders even after TRUMP staged another rally in August. The token jumped approximately 93% between Aug. 13 and Aug. 23, moving from a record low of $1.37 to $3.60 before falling after team-linked wallets transferred $6.2 million worth of tokens to OKX.
Nearly 988,905 wallets remained underwater by a combined $3.81 billion during the period, while Trump-affiliated entities controlled 80% of TRUMP’s 1 billion-token supply under a vesting schedule running through January 2028, according to on-chain data reviewed in August.
LAPTOP’s planned airdrop would therefore direct part of its supply toward a large existing group of meme coin traders who have recorded losses on the president’s token.
Founders will control 30% of the LAPTOP supply
Beyond the 30% founder allocation and 20% airdrop pool, the LAPTOP project has earmarked another 20% of the supply for charitable donations, liquidity and distributions to exchange partners and market makers, the Journal reported.
Part of that allocation will cover accounting, legal, administrative and compliance expenses associated with the token foundation.
The remaining portion of the token structure is tied to an unusual burn system built around 30 predetermined events. Up to 30% of LAPTOP’s supply could be permanently destroyed if specified conditions occur within their assigned time limits.
One trigger would be a Democratic victory in the 2028 U.S. presidential election. Other conditions include Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high and LAPTOP’s fully diluted valuation exceeding that of TRUMP.
Tokens connected to conditions that are not met would be donated proportionally to charities instead of being destroyed, according to the Journal.
The structure links LAPTOP’s supply directly to political and crypto market events, including the performance of the token it is positioning itself against.
Political meme coins have previously shown large price swings around events involving the Trump family. TRUMP lost 55% within minutes after Melania Trump announced her MELANIA token in January 2025, erasing billions of dollars from its market capitalization as traders moved between the two assets.
By February 2026, TRUMP and MELANIA had fallen by more than 90% from their respective peaks, while estimates cited at the time placed retail losses across the Trump-branded tokens at more than $4 billion.
Hunter Biden has stepped up his crypto commentary
The LAPTOP launch follows a period in which Hunter Biden has taken a more public role through podcasts, news appearances and his Substack publication.
His recent commentary has extended into cryptocurrency, including the Trump family’s digital asset businesses and the controversy surrounding World Liberty Financial and crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun.
Trump-linked crypto ventures have faced continued scrutiny over the money generated for entities associated with the president and losses recorded by investors.
Public Citizen estimated in August that investors across five Trump-linked products were at least $4.7 billion underwater, including roughly $3.2 billion attributed to TRUMP holders and at least $1 billion connected to World Liberty Financial’s WLFI token.
The watchdog’s figures included both realized and unrealized losses. It estimated that Trump generated approximately $1.4 billion in crypto-related income during 2025, while the top 1% of profitable TRUMP wallets captured around $2.7 billion, or roughly 80% of all gains. The Public Citizen analysis called for Congress to add presidential divestment requirements to U.S. crypto legislation.
Political scrutiny surrounding TRUMP has reached the regulatory debate in Washington as well. Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal asked Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins in August to investigate the token, citing investor losses and Trump’s reported earnings from the project.
Their request arrived while lawmakers were negotiating ethics provisions connected to the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. The SEC had previously taken the position that meme coins generally do not qualify as securities under existing federal securities laws, leaving much of the sector outside its traditional enforcement framework.
The debate over TRUMP and crypto ethics has continued as lawmakers consider restrictions on government officials benefiting financially from digital asset ventures.
LAPTOP is scheduled to begin trading on Base on Sept. 9, with its 1 billion-token supply divided among the founding team, airdrop recipients, charitable and operational uses, and the event-linked burn mechanism.
Be the first to comment