Speaking on actor Rainn Wilson’s Soul Boom podcast, Biden rejected the suggestion that the token had simply “crashed and burned”, pointing to what he said was a fully diluted valuation of about $252 million. He maintained that the project could still fulfil the objectives set for it despite severe losses suffered by buyers after trading began on September 9.
Market data, however, underline the scale of the damage. CoinMarketCap showed $LAPTOP trading at about eight US cents on September 28, with a market capitalisation near $28 million and a fully diluted valuation around $80 million. The tracker recorded an all-time high of $401.12 on launch day, putting the token roughly 99.98 per cent below that fleeting peak. Differences between Biden’s valuation figure and current tracker data partly reflect timing and the extreme volatility surrounding the token.
Biden said the extraordinary opening moves were caused by inadequate liquidity and automated traders, commonly called snipers, entering the market before ordinary buyers. He described an initial valuation of about $50 million rapidly jumping into the billions before the price collapsed. He acknowledged that the launch had gone wrong and said responsibility ultimately rested with him.
The explanation echoes Biden’s statement immediately after the launch, when he said available liquidity had been unable to sustain demand and blamed technical problems and predatory automated trading for the sharp swing. He said then that the team’s allocation was locked, that nobody associated with the project had sold those tokens and that he personally had made no money.
Biden told Wilson he intended to provide wallet information so trading activity could be scrutinised, arguing that disclosure would demonstrate that people controlling the project had not profited from the collapse. He also said he hoped to identify genuine buyers who lost money and explore ways of making them whole. Those assurances have not eliminated questions over how the token was structured and traded during its chaotic opening.
Independent blockchain analysis after the launch found widespread losses among traders and unusually concentrated holdings. Bubblemaps said more than 15,000 wallets lost money during the initial plunge and noted that many large holders had little or no previous transaction history. That pattern intensified scrutiny of the token, although it did not by itself establish that Biden or other founders sold holdings during the fall.
The project’s published tokenomics provide some support for Biden’s narrower assertion that founder holdings could not immediately be sold. Its official website says the token began with a supply of one billion units, with 30 per cent allocated to founders and subject to lock-up and vesting arrangements. Another 20 per cent was earmarked for airdrops, 10 per cent for liquidity, 5 per cent for a foundation treasury, 5 per cent for charity and 30 per cent tied to prediction-based burns or charitable donations.
$LAPTOP runs on Base, an Ethereum layer-two network, and the project itself describes the asset as a freely transferable, non-yield-bearing memecoin with no conventional utility. Its name refers to the laptop controversy that followed Biden for years, and he has presented the token as an attempt to reclaim a narrative that became politically damaging to him and his father, former US president Joe Biden.
Before launch, the plan drew scepticism from cryptocurrency traders and criticism over the risks associated with celebrity-backed memecoins. The sector is characterised by thin liquidity, highly speculative trading and prices that can move dramatically when automated buyers or large holders enter or leave a market.
Arabian Post – Crypto News Network
Follow Arabian Post
Select Arabian Post as your preferred source on Google and MSN News for trusted business news and Arab politics and updates.
