Key Highlights
- Fake LAPTOP tokens surged more than 1,160% ahead of the official launch.
- Hunter Biden’s official LAPTOP token is expected to launch on Base on September 9.
- The lack of an official contract address has raised concerns about copycat tokens and possible scams.
Fake LAPTOP tokens have surged across several blockchain networks ahead of Hunter Biden’s planned memecoin launch, as traders bought tokens using the same name before the official Base contract was released. The official LAPTOP token is expected to launch on Base on September 9.
The rush began after The Wall Street Journal reported that Hunter Biden, son of former US President Joe Biden, plans to launch the LAPTOP token.
Within about an hour of the report, more than a dozen copycat LAPTOP tokens appeared on Solana, BNB Chain and TON, with the tokens trading at about $6.9 million in combined volume.
Copycat tokens quickly attract traders
One of the fake tokens saw an even bigger move. According to data from DexScan as of (2:37 PM UTC) on September 8, a similarly named LAPTOP token jumped more than 1,160%, reaching about $0.00168 and recording roughly $228.9 million in 24-hour trading volume. The token initially reached nearly $0.015 when it launched before pulling back.
However, there was no confirmation that the token was connected to Hunter Biden’s planned project.
Hunter Biden confirms the launch
Meanwhile, The Crypto Times previously reported that the real LAPTOP token is expected to launch on Base on September 9.
Hunter Biden appeared to confirm the plan about four minutes after the Journal report was published. On his verified X account, he posted the $LAPTOP ticker and the September 9 launch date alongside a 31-second Fox News clip about the laptop story.
The token is linked to the laptop story
The token takes its name from the laptop linked to a major political controversy during the 2020 US presidential election.
The planned project will have a total supply of 1 billion tokens, according to the Journal report.
How the LAPTOP supply will be shared
About 30% of the supply is set aside for the founding team, including Hunter Biden. Those tokens are expected to remain locked for six months before being released slowly over about two years.
Another 20% is planned for airdrops. Part of that allocation is meant for wallets that lost money on Donald Trump’s TRUMP memecoin, while other portions are linked to Biden’s Substack subscribers and Andrew Callaghan’s mailing list.
The project also plans to use 20% of the supply for liquidity, exchanges and legal costs. Up to 30% could be burned based on certain future events, including Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high, LAPTOP’s market value passing TRUMP’s, or a Democratic win in the 2028 US presidential election.
No official contract address yet
At this time, no official contract address had been published. However, CoinGecko had listed the project as “Hunter Biden’s Laptop,” as a preview-only asset, with trading unavailable. The listing alone did not confirm that any of the trading tokens were official.
The flood of copycats adds another layer of risk for traders. Solidus Labs previously reported more than 500 scam tokens on Base during the network’s first weeks. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT also linked compromised celebrity and brand accounts to fake-token promotions that moved about $3.5 million to anonymous wallets.
The situation also brings back memories of TRUMP memecoin, which launched on Solana on January 18, 2025. The token later fell more than 50% after Melania Trump launched her own memecoin. CoinGecko data in the source put TRUMP near $2.28, far below its January peak of $73.43.
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