Hunter Biden plans to launch a memecoin called $LAPTOP on Wednesday. The token will run on Base, the network built by Coinbase. Total supply is one billion. Founders, including Biden, take 30 percent. That portion is locked for six months, then released over more than two years. Another 20 percent goes out through two airdrops. The first group in line is wallets holding losses from TRUMP, the memecoin Donald Trump launched days before his 2025 inauguration.
The plan got attention from crypto traders. Much of it was negative. Some told Biden not to bother. A pseudonymous DeFi developer, scupytrooples, replied to Biden’s post with a blunt rejection. Trader DonAlt called it an embarrassment. Investor Byzantine General told Biden never to come back. The reaction was direct enough that some businesses pulled back.
Kraken deleted a social post promoting the token after traders questioned why a large exchange was advertising another political memecoin. Kraken has not said that it dropped plans to list $LAPTOP. The token website says exchange listings will be announced when trading begins.
Who gets the airdrop
Biden’s Substack subscribers are eligible. A mailing list run by video journalist Andrew Callaghan is also on the list. The Wall Street Journal first reported the plan. Biden confirmed it on X on Monday. He posted the ticker and a montage of news anchors talking about the laptop he left at a Delaware repair shop in 2019.
Data said to come from the device included emails about overseas business dealings. It also included personal photos, messages and videos involving drug use and his private life. Much of it spilled into public view around the 2020 election. The laptop became a meme. Years later, Biden is trying to turn that notoriety into a token. The response suggests not everyone finds it funny.
Callaghan denies involvement
Callaghan said neither he nor his Channel 5 program had anything to do with the coin. That matters because a Channel 5 mailing list was included among groups eligible for the planned airdrop. He told the Journal that Channel 5 does not consider crypto a legitimate investment. So one of the token’s airdrop buckets is already disputed by the person tied to it.
What happens next
$LAPTOP is set for Wednesday. The founders’ allocation is locked, but the public fight started early. Traders who lost money on TRUMP are first in line for an airdrop, which may be an attempt to win back a burned crowd. It may also remind them of the last political coin they bought. For now, Biden has the attention he wanted. He may not have the buyers.
