TLDR
- Hunter Biden’s $LAPTOP meme coin lost roughly 98% of its value within minutes of launching
- A market maker error left only $5,000 in liquidity against massive demand
- One mystery trader turned $250,000 into $1.18 million during the chaos
- About 80% of traders lost money, with more than 15,000 wallets ending in the red
- Biden accepted responsibility and said he plans to “make it right,” but gave no details on investor compensation
Hunter Biden’s $LAPTOP meme coin launched on Wednesday and collapsed almost immediately, wiping out the majority of its early investors in a matter of minutes.
— Hunter Biden (@HunterBiden) September 11, 2026
The coin was named after the laptop controversy that followed Biden for years. He said the symbol had become one of “resilience, redemption and recovery” for him personally.
Trading started fast. The token’s price shot up from around $2.39 to as high as $316 on some platforms before crashing below $4. Other data feeds showed the peak closer to $190. Either way, the drop was steep.
Biden blamed the collapse on his project’s market maker, who reportedly added only $5,000 in liquidity at launch despite heavy demand. That thin pool allowed prices to swing wildly.
“There was a f–k up. The f–k-up occurred in the first 30 seconds of launching the coin,” Biden said in a video posted on X on Friday.
At its brief peak, the token’s theoretical fully diluted valuation reached $144 billion, according to CoinDesk, despite having almost no real liquidity to support that number.
Biden noted the market cap briefly appeared larger than BlackRock’s, which is worth upwards of $175 billion. He said the price chart “looked like Mount Everest.”
One Trader Won Big
One mystery trader managed to turn roughly $250,000 into $1.18 million within minutes. That’s about $930,000 in profit before transaction costs, according to blockchain analysis firm Datavault AI.
Meanwhile, a separate buyer who put in around $200,000 near the peak was left with tokens worth just $2,000 after the crash.
Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps found that about 80% of traders lost money. More than 15,000 wallets ended in the red, though most individual losses were under $1,000.
A smaller group did well. CryptoSlate reported that 88 wallets earned a combined $5.6 million from the launch.
Biden Takes Responsibility
Biden said he had been working on the project for six months and was involved in every part of its creation, including the coin’s structure and how it would be presented to the public.
He was clear that he and his partners had not sold any tokens. Project insiders were reportedly locked up for six months, preventing them from cashing out during the surge.
“This is my f–king token,” Biden said. “At the end of the day, it’s my responsibility, and there was a f–k up.”
He said the team was working to increase liquidity and trading volume going forward.
Biden did not say whether investors would be compensated, but he committed to staying with the project.
“I am in this to the end 100%, and I promise you that we’re gonna make it right,” he said.
