What Hunter Biden Learned Launching A Meme Coin

Hunter Biden said he created Laptop Token after becoming interested in crypto and watching what he described as the Trump family’s “max extraction.” The meme coin, which features his face and a cigarette, was meant to reclaim the “Hunter Biden’s laptop” story and give him a chance to tell his version of events. He also acknowledged that he intended to make money from the project. He hopes it will build value and generate donations for charities, particularly those focused on recovery and addiction.

The token has a supply of one billion and launched at five cents; Biden said it traded around seven cents during the interview and had briefly been just under eight cents. He described allocations of 30% for team members, 30% for a prediction market and 20% for airdrops, alongside a dedicated charity pot of at least 5% of the token’s total value over two years. The project had 30 predictions: under its design, a successful prediction burns some tokens, while funds tied to an unsuccessful prediction go to charity. Biden said the team’s 300 million tokens had not been touched and were subject to linear vesting over more than two years. He said the project’s intent should ultimately be judged by what it does over that period.

Biden said Laptop Token launched at a $50 million fully diluted valuation, then briefly displayed a $317 billion market capitalization before falling sharply over roughly five minutes. He emphasized that such chart valuations are fictional constructs, not money that has actually been invested or received. He said launch liquidity was inadequate and that he had not received an explanation for the market maker’s actions. Three market makers had received tokens and cash to provide liquidity. The first was allocated 15 million tokens and $500,000 for liquidity and buy-side execution, not as a fee, but Biden said it used only $5,000 and roughly 29,000 tokens. He said a $6 purchase in the opening seconds raised the token’s displayed market capitalization by 5%.

The interviewer characterized the first market maker’s limited use of its funds as apparently intentional, but Biden did not establish that it was deliberate. He questioned how the conduct qualified as market making and said it could have been accidental, intentional or somewhere in between. He estimated that retail buyers lost less than $3 million, possibly about $2.5 million, while warning that the figures were not definitive; he said two market makers walked away with almost exactly as much as retail buyers lost. In hindsight, he said, he would not have launched without the expected centralized-exchange listing.

Biden said Coinbase had been expected to list the token, with Binance and OKX potentially following. Coinbase pulled back after criticism on crypto Twitter and chose to wait for launch-day results, he said; the team had announced the launch 48 hours in advance, and Coinbase withdrew about 12 hours before it began. Biden said he did not blame Coinbase or believe it acted intentionally. He also said he could not speak during a quiet period to defend or promote the token. The episode illustrates his view that launch execution and dependable liquidity mattered as much as the project’s stated design, while leaving the market makers’ conduct unresolved.

Biden argued that a president and family promoting crypto creates an inherent conflict because they influence the rules governing the industry. He said Trump and his sons pursued “max extraction,” and that conflicts of interest, including ethics concerns in negotiations, helped keep the CLARITY Act from passing. He acknowledged that both parties have helped politicize crypto, but said Trump’s conduct made the issue bipartisan. Biden wants regulation that allows crypto to develop without capture by industry or monopolies, and criticized incumbent banks and industries for attacking crypto while lobbying in Washington and pursuing their own crypto efforts.

He sees blockchain-based money as a way to transact without relying on incumbent banking monopolies, serve people without bank access and enable global microtransactions. He cited remittances as one potential use, saying Western Union charges 15%, and believes blockchain could also help establish transparency and distinguish real information from misinformation in the AI era. At the same time, he acknowledged that there is truth both in claims that crypto is a grift and in defenses of the industry, and said views of meme tokens often divide by age. He estimated that 85% of members of Congress lack a clear understanding of crypto. His goal for Laptop Token is that it survive at least until its final prediction-market event in 2029 and produce charitable checks; he also said he hopes it reaches ten cents.