Even CNN is warning viewers to think twice before diving into Hunter Biden’s latest business venture: a cryptocurrency meme coin inspired by his own infamous laptop scandal.
CNN senior business reporter Matt Egan delivered a blunt warning to investors during a Tuesday morning segment on “CNN News Central,” cautioning that Biden’s newly announced coin could follow the same disastrous path as other politically themed cryptocurrencies.
Egan pointed to a string of failures among similar coins, noting that President Donald Trump’s own meme coin has plunged 97 percent from its all-time high, First Lady Melania Trump’s coin has cratered 99 percent, and former New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ coin has dropped 87 percent from its peak.
“A lot of crashing and burning for the politically-themed meme coins,” Egan said, citing Wall Street executive Matthew Tuttle, who told him such coins might be entertaining but are ultimately “really stupid” investments that people should avoid due to the risk involved.
Egan also warned that meme coins are particularly vulnerable to so-called “rug pulls,” a scheme in which developers artificially inflate a coin’s value before abandoning the project, leaving investors holding worthless assets.
The warning comes a day after Biden announced plans to launch his coin, dubbed “$LAPTOP,” a clear nod to what critics have long referred to as his “laptop from hell,” the device at the center of a 2020 New York Post report that was swiftly censored on Twitter at the time.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, 20 percent of the coin’s supply will reportedly be distributed in two batches to crypto wallets belonging to people who lost money on Trump’s meme coin, as well as subscribers to Biden’s Substack newsletter and a mailing list curated by video journalist Andrew Callaghan. Biden and other coin holders are expected to retain roughly 30 percent of the total supply.
Egan reiterated that meme coins, unlike established cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, carry no real intrinsic value and serve no practical purpose beyond riding viral internet trends.
The launch adds another chapter to Biden’s ongoing effort to capitalize on his controversial public profile, even as financial experts continue to sound alarms about the volatility and risk associated with politically branded digital currencies.
