On September 9, the Hunter Biden-themed memecoin LAPTOP crashed 98% within minutes of its launch. The price spiked above $300 before liquidity vanished, plummeting to $4.36 and eventually trading below $1 near $0.75. Data from Bubblemaps showed that of 15,206 wallets, 11,311 lost less than $1,000, while only 363 traders earned over $1,000, including ten that cleared $100,000. A Wintermute-tagged wallet reportedly received 2.5 million tokens and sold 466,255 for about $2.08 million. The Foundation blamed sniper bots for the collapse and announced plans to deploy 4 million tokens into Aerodrome pools and reduce supply by 1% to improve liquidity.
The LAPTOP memecoin lost 98% of its value within minutes of trading on Wednesday, September 9. The price initially surged above $300 before liquidity dried up, causing a collapse to $4.36 and eventually trading near $0.75.
Data from Bubblemaps revealed the uneven impact. Among 15,206 wallets, 11,311 lost less than $1,000, while 840 suffered larger losses. Conversely, only 363 traders earned above $1,000, including ten wallets that cleared $100,000.
This imbalance suggests that early exiters captured most available liquidity while later buyers absorbed losses. A Wintermute-tagged wallet reportedly received 2.5 million LAPTOP tokens from the project team. It subsequently sold 466,255 tokens for about $2.08 million at an average price of $4.47.
Those tokens were transferred via Kyber and into Wintermute’s hot wallet, where 200,745 tokens valued at approximately $339,260 remained. The data did not prove Wintermute caused the crash, but thin pools on Aerodrome and Uniswap may have magnified each sale through slippage.
The Foundation confirmed that its X account had been suspended. It stated it was not stepping away from LAPTOP and blamed the launch swings on sniper bots overwhelming limited liquidity after trading opened at $0.05.
The team plans to deploy 4 million tokens—0.40% of supply—across Aerodrome pools. This will reduce total supply by 1% within one week, aiming to decrease slippage and selling pressures experienced during the initial launch. Deeper pools and calmer trading must follow before confidence returns.
