Crypto: Hunter Biden’s LAPTOP memecoin criticized before launch

Hunter Biden’s LAPTOP memecoin is due to launch on Base on September 9, with a total supply of one billion tokens. Yet it is already facing unusual rejection from parts of the crypto community: Kraken deleted a promotional post, Base denied any partnership with the project, and journalist Andrew Callaghan publicly distanced himself from it. The token is not yet officially tradable, but copies using the same name are already circulating.

LAPTOP reserves 30% of its tokens for founders

The project deliberately draws on one of the most controversial episodes in Hunter Biden’s public life: the laptop that became a major political issue during the 2020 US presidential campaign.

LAPTOP will be deployed on Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network developed by Coinbase. The launch comes as Bref Crypto had already observed the return of crypto projects associated with Donald Trump, another illustration of the growing convergence between political figures and speculative tokens.

Of the planned one billion LAPTOP tokens, 30% will be reserved for the founders, including Hunter Biden. These tokens cannot be sold for six months, and their full acquisition will be spread over more than two years.

Another 20% is to be distributed for free. The beneficiaries would reportedly include wallets that bought Donald Trump’s TRUMP memecoin and suffered losses, as well as subscribers to Biden’s Substack and a mailing list associated with journalist Andrew Callaghan.

The choice is clearly provocative. TRUMP approached a market capitalization of $15 billion after its launch in January 2025 before losing most of its value. Its price is now trading around $2.27, far below its all-time high of $74.34.

Up to 30% of LAPTOP’s supply could also be burned depending on several future events, including a Democratic victory in the 2028 US presidential election, surpassing TRUMP in market capitalization or Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high. If some conditions are not met, tokens would be directed to charitable organizations.

Kraken and Base distance themselves

The launch has nevertheless failed to receive the hoped-for welcome from several crypto figures.

Kraken published a message promoting LAPTOP before deleting it following a wave of criticism. The exchange has nevertheless not announced that it is abandoning a potential listing. The project’s website simply states that the relevant platforms will be revealed at the start of trading.

Base’s response is even more notable.

Several users interpreted the choice of this network as a sign of Coinbase’s involvement. Jordan Fish, head of the Base App team, responded that there was no partnership between LAPTOP, Coinbase and Base. Jesse Pollak, Base’s founder, confirmed that Hunter Biden’s team had made contact before the launch, but said Base had chosen to take part neither in the token’s design nor its promotion.

This reflects how the network itself operates. Base officially describes itself as permissionless infrastructure: any developer can deploy an application or token on it without obtaining Coinbase’s prior approval. Being issued on Base therefore does not mean being endorsed by Coinbase.

This distinction is becoming increasingly important as political projects multiply. The debate over crypto revenue earned by political figures is already weighing on negotiations over the CLARITY Act, particularly since the rise of digital activities linked to Donald Trump.

LAPTOP is therefore entering a market that is far more skeptical than it was at the time of TRUMP’s launch.

LAPTOP copies are already circulating

The unease is not limited to Kraken or Coinbase.

Andrew Callaghan said that neither he nor his media outlet Channel 5 was involved in the project, despite plans to use a mailing list linked to his work for certain airdrops. He also said that Channel 5 did not consider cryptocurrencies to be a legitimate investment.

Meanwhile, Pump.fun continued promoting LAPTOP on Tuesday. Tokens bearing the same name were already being traded even before the official launch scheduled for Wednesday.

This is probably the most useful detail for users.

Before an official token is deployed and its contract address is confirmed through the project’s channels, a ticker such as LAPTOP cannot be used to identify the asset. Anyone can create another token with exactly the same name. The phenomenon is common during high-profile launches and provides ideal ground for imitators.

Bref Crypto recently observed a similar pattern surrounding the memecoin linked to the GTA VI leaks: attention itself becomes a raw material capable of attracting liquidity, speculation and opportunistic copies.

Hunter Biden confirmed September 9 as the launch date. In recent months, he has also displayed growing interest in Bitcoin, blockchain and Hyperliquid, going so far as to describe decentralized digital currencies as an inevitable future.

LAPTOP is nevertheless a very different exercise from Bitcoin. Its distribution relies heavily on the founders, its value will initially depend on the attention surrounding the project, and its launch explicitly draws on a past political controversy.

The first test is no longer even its price. Before the token officially exists on the market, several actors whose audiences it evidently hoped to capture have already deemed it necessary to clarify that they do not support it.