LAPTOP, a meme coin linked to Hunter Biden, went live on Base at 8 p.m. on Sept. 10 and immediately printed one of the most extreme opening moves seen in the meme token market.
Before launch, community expectations put LAPTOP's first-day market capitalization in the $100 million to $250 million range. Instead, the token's market cap briefly climbed above $250 billion. The peak did not last. Within 15 minutes, the price had already fallen below $130 and the market cap had been cut roughly in half. By 8:45 p.m., LAPTOP had dropped below $5, marking a 97% decline. At the time of writing, the token was trading at $0.85, below the $1 threshold, with a fully diluted valuation of about $850 million, down more than 99% from the high.
Prediction markets were nowhere close to the opening print
Ahead of listing, market participants largely did not expect LAPTOP to approach a billion-dollar valuation on day one.
At the time, predict.fun showed a 73% probability that LAPTOP's FDV would be above $100 million one day after launch, and a 47% probability it would be above $250 million. The probability of topping $1 billion stood at just 13%. Most of the debate centered on whether the token could hold above $250 million, not whether it could break far past that level.
The actual debut blew through those assumptions. LAPTOP hit its top almost immediately after trading began, then unwound in less than an hour. Even after the collapse, the token's market-cap path still landed far above what many participants had penciled in before launch.
With half a day left before the prediction market settled, the odds on predict.fun had shifted sharply. The probability of FDV above $250 million rose to 87%, the probability of FDV above $500 million stood at 52%, and the probability of FDV above $1 billion after one day was 21%.
Bubblemaps said around 80% of traders lost money
At 12 a.m. on Sept. 11, on-chain analytics platform Bubblemaps said trading in LAPTOP had turned into what it described as a bloodbath, with about 80% of traders posting losses.
According to the firm's breakdown, at least two traders lost between $100,000 and $1 million. Another 100 traders lost more than $10,000, about 700 lost over $1,000, and roughly 11,000 recorded smaller losses. Bubblemaps added that, given the lower price levels later on, the total losses could still widen.
The platform also said that among LAPTOP's main holder addresses, around 60% had no previous on-chain activity, and most of those new wallets received funding on the same day.
Market makers and sniper profits appeared at the same time
On-chain analyst Ai Yi said the token's market makers included GSR Markets, G20, and Wintermute. The three firms were tied to 15.5 million, 5 million, and 2.5 million LAPTOP tokens, respectively, for a combined 2.3% of total supply.
At around 9 p.m. on Sept. 10, Wintermute had already sold more than 466,000 LAPTOP at an average price of $4.47, worth about $2.08 million, and was still selling on-chain.
Several traders, however, managed to capture outsized gains during the launch window. Lookonchain said one sniper spent just 900 USDC to buy 2,268.56 LAPTOP at $0.40 apiece, then sold the full position at an average price of $111, netting more than $250,000 for a 278x return.
Onchain Lens reported another trader bought 471 LAPTOP for $997 and sold the position two minutes later for $66,800, making $65,100, a 65x gain.
One address bought 9,124.19 LAPTOP at an average of $27.383 immediately after launch, spending $250,000. It has since sold nearly 93% of the position at $140.48, realizing more than $1.04 million in profit, a 415.8% return.
Another whale put in $240,000 at the open, buying at $24 and later selling LAPTOP worth $1.2 million in stages, for profit of about $1 million.
Two subscription airdrop wallets cashed out $600,000
Crypto trader Rune said two LAPTOP subscription airdrop wallets sold a combined $600,000 after claiming their allocations.
One new wallet, 0x8DA...A18d, claimed 4,276 LAPTOP for free and then sold the tokens for about $400,000. That wallet later sent 0.02 ETH to another new wallet, 0xc27...b591. The second wallet also claimed 4,276 LAPTOP for free and sold immediately after the first sale pushed the price lower, cashing out around $200,000.
Several late buyers and dip buyers were hit with steep losses
On-chain analyst Ember said that at 9 p.m. on Sept. 10, one address spent about 200,000 USDC to buy 919.4 LAPTOP at $217.5 each. Roughly 50 minutes later, the token had dropped to $4.4, leaving the position worth about $4,045. That represented a 98% drawdown and an unrealized loss of about $196,000, making it one of the worst-hit addresses in the trade.
Another address bought LAPTOP twice for a combined total of about $250,000. Hours later, the first purchase had fallen to a holding value of $700, while the second purchase was cut in half almost immediately. The address held 25,286 LAPTOP with an average cost of $9.8 and was down 92%, or about $227,000.
Lookonchain also tracked one address that bought the token after it had already fallen 98%. That trader spent $170,000 to acquire 28,400 LAPTOP at $5.97, but the position was later worth just $21,000, down another 87% from entry.
Ansem, Bonk Guy, and Eric Trump all criticized the token
Multiple crypto traders voiced strong skepticism around LAPTOP before and after launch. Eric Trump mocked Hunter Biden, saying he should go back to painting.
Ansem had said earlier that 99% of celebrity meme coins are scams, arguing that celebrities and developers typically secure large positions in advance, use attention to pull in retail buyers, and then sell without maintaining the project. He said he viewed LAPTOP as no different from prior examples.
After the token went live, Bonk Guy also attacked the project. He said that after watching it trade, LAPTOP looked like a case of trying to extract money without much understanding of the crypto industry.
Bonk Guy focused in particular on the token's fully diluted valuation in the hundreds of billions of dollars, calling it absurd. He also questioned why Hunter Biden had become a market narrative in crypto at all, adding that much of the public attention around him stemmed from controversies during Joe Biden's presidency, while the Biden administration had taken a broadly hard-line stance toward the crypto sector. Bonk Guy ended with a warning that buyers at current valuations were taking extreme risk and said, "Anyone who buys it deserves to lose 100% of their money."
Hunter Biden's earlier explanation and the token allocation plan
Before the launch, Hunter Biden had said users "should not expect me or anyone else to make this token more valuable," adding that LAPTOP was not only about holding an asset but also about expressing an attitude.
According to details previously disclosed by the Phoenix Veritas Foundation, the entity behind LAPTOP, total supply is 1 billion tokens. At TGE, 350 million tokens were unlocked, equal to 35% of total supply. First-day community airdrops, future airdrops, and liquidity each accounted for 10%, while the foundation treasury accounted for 5%.
Of the 100 million LAPTOP allocated to the first-day airdrop, 20 million were intended for TRUMP traders who suffered losses on a partner platform, while 80 million were set aside for users who subscribed to Hunter Biden's "Where's Hunter" Substack before Sept. 6. The claim window was set at 30 days, and any unclaimed tokens would be permanently burned. Another 100 million tokens earmarked for future airdrops would be distributed at the discretion of the Phoenix Veritas Foundation.
The latest update said the foundation's account had been suspended. Hunter Biden said, "I will never give up on LAPTOP. We are doing everything we can to restore the account. In the meantime, the foundation will share the latest updates and ideas through Medium."