Former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, is preparing to roll out a memecoin, a novelty form of cryptocurrency that is typically based on a famous person or meme that has no intrinsic purpose, but can acquire value based on social media hype. In a post on Monday, the younger Biden shared a video that repeatedly referenced “laptop,” an apparent nod to the controversy surrounding his computer during the 2020 campaign. The token will trade under the ticker, $LAPTOP, and is set to launch Sept. 9.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news. The token will trade on Base, the network built by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, with a supply of one billion. The Journal also reported that the founders, including Biden, will hold 30% of the token’s supply, which will be locked for six months.
$LAPTOP
September 9 pic.twitter.com/QokgWLNxgL
— Hunter Biden (@HunterBiden) September 7, 2026
Another 20% of the supply is set to be distributed through two free token giveaways to people who lost money trading TRUMP, the memecoin launched by President Donald Trump in January 2025, as well as subscribers to Biden’s Substack. Recipients of a mailing list run by Biden’s friend, video journalist Andrew Callaghan, will also be eligible, though Callaghan later said that he had nothing to do with the token’s rollout.
Biden would become the latest high-profile figure to introduce a memecoin. In January, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the NYC Token at a Times Square press conference. That followed the launches of memecoins from Trump and first lady Melania Trump a year earlier. These tokens fell sharply in the days after their debuts and quickly drew accusations of being rug pulls, a crypto term for projects in which insiders abruptly sell large holdings, leaving other investors with steep losses.
The project is apparently intended to put the long-running laptop controversy behind Biden by turning the source of online mockery into a memecoin. In April 2019, Biden dropped the computer off at a repair shop in Delaware. The Federal Bureau of Investigation seized it five months later. The laptop reportedly contained information about Biden’s overseas business dealings and private life during a period when he struggled with addiction.
The initiative swiftly drew backlash on X.
“You criticize Trump for doing a scam then do one yourself,” one user wrote.
“And there goes your reputation back down the drain,” said another.
Some platforms that had said they would list LAPTOP later pulled back their promotional posts as criticism mounted. Kraken, one of the largest crypto exchanges, deleted a post about the token after users questioned why it was marketing another politically-linked coin.
