Hunter Biden makes new crypto move against Donald Trump

Hunter Biden is reportedly launching a memecoin called LAPTOP on Coinbase's Base network, turning one of the most contentious episodes of the 2020 U.S. presidential election into a crypto project aimed partly at Donald Trump's political brand. The token is scheduled to launch on Sept. 9 with a total supply of 1 billion, according to a Sept. 7 Wall Street Journal report. Its name refers to the laptop at the center of years of political controversy involving Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden. The project also arrives as Trump and his family have become major players in crypto through ventures including Official Trump (TRUMP) and World Liberty Financial, which has expanded into stablecoins and other digital-asset products. Related: Billionaire has 5-word response to Elon Musk's Tesla chart Hunter Biden turns laptop controversy into memecoin The laptop story erupted in October 2020, weeks before Joe Biden defeated Trump in the presidential election. The New York Post published material it said came from a laptop Hunter Biden had left at a Delaware repair shop, including emails about his overseas business dealings, particularly his work with Ukrainian energy company Burisma, as well as personal photos and other files. Twitter (now X) initially blocked links to the reporting, while Facebook reduced its distribution, prompting a broader debate over platform moderation and election coverage. Trending on TheStreet Roundtable: Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey later criticized how the company handled the episode, calling the decision to block links without adequate explanation "unacceptable." The laptop remained a recurring political issue throughout Joe Biden's presidency, including in congressional investigations and litigation over the distribution of Hunter Biden's personal data. Six years later, Biden is leaning into the controversy rather than distancing himself from it by using "LAPTOP" as the token's identity. Trump crypto ventures provide the backdrop Trump himself went from criticizing Bitcoin and crypto to becoming one of the sector's most prominent political advocates after returning to the White House. His Official Trump memecoin launched shortly before his January 2025 inauguration and surged rapidly before falling sharply from its peak. The Trump family also helped launch World Liberty Financial, whose USD1 stablecoin had grown to roughly $4 billion in market capitalization by August 2026. LAPTOP directly references that ecosystem. Since its January 2025 peak, TRUMP has lost almost all of its launch-era gains. The token hit an all-time high of $74.27 on Jan. 19, 2025, but was trading near $1.68 by July 2026, a decline of roughly 98%. A Reuters investigation published in June 2026 estimated that more than 1 million investors had accumulated about $2.3 billion in combined realized and unrealized losses. According to the WSJ, 20% of LAPTOP's supply is earmarked partly for investors who lost money on TRUMP, while parts of the tokenomics are tied to political events including the 2028 presidential election. Related: Trump-pardoned crypto billionaire becomes top political donor This story was originally published by TheStreet on Sep 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here. More News