Automated Bots Blamed for Market Chaos
The launch of the LAPTOP memecoin, inspired by Hunter Biden’s infamous MacBook, was anything but smooth.
Despite the project’s claims of fairness—no presale, no influencer allocations, and locked founder tokens—these precautions did little to prevent chaos. The initial pool opened at $0.05 per token, but within just two minutes, LAPTOP peaked at $190.81 before tumbling downward in a dramatic reversal.
Six-Figure Losses Hit Early Buyers
The fallout from the launch was immediate and severe for several early participants. Nansen data revealed one wallet sitting on an unrealized loss of $117,800 after buying in early. Another user withdrew $249,800 from Binance before launch and managed to flip 9,124 tokens for a staggering $1.18 million in just five minutes—netting a $930,000 gain—while others were left holding bags as prices collapsed around them.
Contrast this with another wallet that spent nearly $200,000 on 919 tokens near the top price of $218 each; within an hour, those holdings were worth less than $3,000—a brutal 98.5% drop in value. The numbers illustrate a sharp divide: while some traders exploited the initial chaos for huge profits, many more suffered catastrophic losses as the price cratered.
For most buyers, LAPTOP’s rapid ascent was followed by an even faster collapse.
Price Plummets Within First Hour
LAPTOP’s price action was among the most extreme seen in recent memecoin launches. After its brief spike to nearly $191 just two minutes post-launch, the token lost 90% of its value within half an hour. By the one-hour mark on Wednesday afternoon, it traded near $4.77—a staggering decline from its peak. As trading continued into the afternoon, LAPTOP hovered around $1.80 according to CoinGecko data—down roughly 99% from its highest point.
Despite this collapse, trading volume remained high: over $13.4 million changed hands in a matter of hours as speculators tried to catch rebounds or exit positions.
Hunter Biden Denies Any Profit
Amidst accusations and speculation online, Hunter Biden publicly denied profiting from the LAPTOP memecoin saga. In a statement posted to X on Wednesday—the same day as the token’s launch—he asserted that neither he nor his team had sold any tokens and that their allocations were locked for six months. Project disclosures echoed this point: there was no presale and no special allocations for influencers or investors.
This stands in contrast with some holders who managed to extract massive gains during the initial frenzy. While one wallet made nearly a million dollars in minutes by selling at peak prices, Biden insisted he “has not made a single dollar.” The tension between public perception and these locked allocations adds another layer of controversy to an already turbulent launch.
No Utility—and No Clear Path Forward
The LAPTOP token’s documentation makes clear it has no actual utility beyond its meme status; there are no plans for development or use cases beyond speculative trading. Most top holders’ wallets were created just days before launch according to blockchain analysis tools like Bubblemaps—a sign that opportunistic actors may have dominated early trading activity rather than long-term supporters.
It’s uncertain whether LAPTOP will find stability or fade into obscurity like so many other viral tokens before it.
Areas to watch closely
If Hunter Biden or his team’s claim that their token allocation is locked and unsold is contradicted by on-chain movements in the coming days, it would immediately raise questions about the veracity of their public statements and could trigger further sell-offs among remaining holders.