Hunter Biden's '$LAPTOP' meme coin plunges over 90% moments after launch
HUNTER BIDEN'S '$LAPTOP' MEME COIN PLUNGES OVER 90% MOMENTS AFTER LAUNCHHunter Biden's "$LAPTOP" meme coin stumbled out of the gate this week, losing more than 90% of its value just a few hours after its Wednesday launch.It was trading at a price of around $27 in the early hours of Wednesday, before plunging to as low as $4.39 an hour later, a Reuters analysis of CoinGecko data showed.The price of the token continued sliding throughout the day and into Thursday, last standing at 76 cents, or down over 90%.The son of former U.S. President Joe Biden had hinted at the launch of a meme coin in an X.com post on Monday. Trading of the token dubbed "Hunter Biden's Laptop" or "$LAPTOP" began on Wednesday.Hunter Biden did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the matter.Late on Wednesday, Biden on X.com shared a link to a blog post titled "LAPTOP Community Launch Update", which stated that the initial pool of tokens was launched at $0.05 per token into "significant demand.""The market maker's initial liquidity was insufficient to meet this demand, and resulted in a sharp price spike up and down before liquidity could catch up," the post said.According to a report by the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, the token's founders, including Biden, will hold 30% of the 1 billion tokens set to be issued.Another 20% of the supply will be sent, in two batches, to crypto wallets linked to the "$TRUMP" token, subscribers of Hunter Biden's Substack and a mailing list curated by video journalist Andrew Callaghan, the report said.Several political figures and celebrities have launched a meme coin in the past, most notably U.S. President Donald Trump with his "$TRUMP" token in 2025, though Wall Street has been wary of these tokens holding any intrinsic value, while often seeing volatile trading and steep losses.Trump's meme coin has shed more than 77% in value over the last year.