Hunter Biden responded to the sharp crash of his LAPTOP meme coin after the token faced instability upon launching on the Base blockchain. LAPTOP reportedly rose to as high as $199, and then the price of the token fell to around $3.70, with losses reaching as much as 99%.
Hunter denied the claim that the project was a rug pull, saying that the demand exceeded the supply. He also mentioned that the liquidity could not keep pace, and technical problems combined with setting bots create multiple price movements. He also claims that the team’s tokens remain locked and he personally has not earned revenue from the project.
At the time of writing, the price of the token is down by 96.9% in the last 24-hours and is currently trading at $0.86 as per CoinGecko.
LAPTOP’s Sharp Crash After Rollout
LAPTOP experienced an enormous price shift after its rollout. The token rose above $199 at one point before plunging, while another reported peak placed its price at $190.81 before it dropped to $0.86. The crash wiped out an estimated $1.6 billion in valuation. The token also reportedly had less than $1 million in liquidity, while the top two wallets were holding around 50% of the total token supply.
Hunter Biden said that the price plunge was not caused by the team selling its tokens. As per his response, demand exceeded, leaving liquidity unable to keep up with the purchased activity. He also attributed the instability to technical issues and front-running bots. Hunter said the coin had now stabilized at what he described as a healthy level. He added that the team’s tokens are all locked up and that no one on the team is selling. He also said that he had not earned a single dollar from Laptop’s project and plans to take steps to develop liquidity, including releasing 4 million laptop tokens as an incentive for liquidity providers.
The team also plans to burn 10 million tokens during the forthcoming rollout. However, on-chain analysts disputed the explanation surrounding the fall. Books said he had recognized several suspicious fund movements during the three hours before the rollout. One sales wallet cashed out 2.23 million dollars, while two airdrop wallets each sold 4,476 tokens during the early launch phase for a combined $647,000.
Two bot wallets also allegedly entered liquidity at the second opening involving $716,000. Analysts further pointed to a liquidity boost created on September 7, two days before the public sale, which collected $650,000 in fees. He also said that 2.2 million tokens had already been deposited into the Bitvawo exchange before the exchange officially opened. Although the proceeds from these tokens remain unclear.
What Did Hunter Biden Say About the LAPTOP Controversy?
Hunter replied to the remarks by declaring it a failure. He said he gave away tokens for free to individuals who lost money on the Trump meme coin. He also asked why people were viewing it pessimistically. He also said that the token’s fully diluted valuation had exceeded $1 billion and that the team was working on liquidity measures subsequent to the rollout.
He said he had built the community for the long term and intended to continue despite the remarks surrounding the LAPTOP token. The controversy has also garnered attention from Trump’s family. Eric Trump, Donald Trump’s second son, mocked Hunter Biden’s token crash in an X post. He said that Hunter should go back to painting. The pessimism comes despite the Trump family having its own experience with meme coins.
$MELANIA and $TRUMP also nearly went to zero, adding an extra layer to the public dispute surrounding the two political families’ crypto ventures. Meanwhile, the foundation’s X account has been suspended, leaving the project temporarily relying on Medium for announcements. Analysts also estimated that verified profits connected to the suspicious transactions amounted to around $4 million, while the overall figure could reach between $5 and $10 million.
Analysts also said that the token contract itself does not appear to be the central issue. It points to the timing and the fund movement before issuance.
