Don't Send Crypto to Claim $LAPTOP. The Ticker Is Not a Unique ID.
Hunter Biden's Sept. 9 post says he will never ask you to send crypto to claim LAPTOP. A ticker can be copied. Match the Base contract, not the nickname.
Don't Send Crypto to Claim $LAPTOP. The Ticker Is Not a Unique ID.
A $LAPTOP ticker shows up in an X post, an Instagram story, or a YouTube comment. A link says early supporters can claim tokens. The famous name makes the post feel official.
The short ticker is a nickname, not a unique ID. Hunter Biden's September 9, 2026 Substack post says he will never ask you to send crypto to claim LAPTOP. Ethereum.org says anyone can deploy a token that reuses the same name and symbol. Match the full Base contract from a first-party page. Do not send crypto to a claim link.
What Hunter Biden's own pages say
On September 9, 2026, Hunter Biden published Introducing LAPTOP. He wrote that he was launching a memecoin called LAPTOP and that Substack subscribers before September 6, 2026, were eligible for free tokens. The steps on that page are: go to laptoptoken.com, sign in with the Substack email, enter a login code, and press Claim. He wrote that a wallet would be created using the email. He also wrote that the claim window lasts 30 days from launch.
The same post includes this warning: "I will never ask you to send crypto to claim your LAPTOP." It also says not to enter information on a site that is not the official claim page, and to trust announcements from him and the @laptoptoken X account.
The project FAQ, checked on September 26, 2026, lists Base as the chain and the contract address 0xB095274743941e953c746F9C228DA9c18Bb6ec29. The same address appears on the project homepage. The FAQ answers "I got a DM, email or text about LAPTOP. Is it real?" with "No." It says the team will never contact you first and will never ask for funds, private keys, seed phrases, or personal information. It also warns about fake tokens and malicious links.
Those pages are first-party statements. They identify a contract and a claim method. They are not a finding that the token is safe, valuable, or suitable.
Why the ticker can be copied
On Ethereum-style networks, a token's name and ticker are labels the contract author chooses. Ethereum.org's guide to scam tokens says other people can deploy a contract that uses the exact same symbol, and that ERC-20 contracts can share a name and symbol. "You cannot count on those fields for security." Base is an Ethereum Layer 2, so the same rule applies to a $LAPTOP ticker there.
The identifier that cannot be copied is the contract address on a named network. Ethereum.org says scam tokens cannot use the same contract address as the token they imitate, and that the best source for a legitimate address is the organization whose token it is. Bookmark that URL. Do not rely on a comment, a swipe-up, or a search-ad result.
The project site's Base contract also appears on BaseScan as Hunter Biden's Laptop, with a maximum total supply of 1,000,000,000. BaseScan lists the project website as laptoptoken.com. Its reputation label is Neutral. BaseScan also notes that the displayed name does not match the contract's Name function. That explorer page is a public record, not an endorsement.
How to check a claim link without sending funds
The FTC's cryptocurrency scam page describes a common script: a scammer pretends to be a celebrity who will multiply crypto you send. The FTC says celebrities are not contacting you through social media. It also says promises of free money are always fake, and that cryptocurrency payments typically cannot be reversed.
The SEC's Office of Investor Education warned in an August 29, 2022 Social Media and Investment Fraud alert not to make investment decisions based solely on social media. That staff alert says fraudsters impersonate people, build fake profiles, and use celebrity endorsements in crypto schemes. A November 1, 2017 celebrity-endorsement alert adds that a famous name does not make an investment legitimate, and that a celebrity can be linked to a product without consent. Those alerts are staff investor-education materials, not Commission rules and not a ruling on LAPTOP.
A practical check, drawn from those pages and from Ethereum.org:
- Type the first-party URL yourself. Compare it with the link in the post.
- Compare the full contract address and the network name with the address on the project FAQ. A match on the first and last characters is not enough.
- Do not send crypto, a seed phrase, or a private key to "claim," "verify," or "unlock" tokens.
- Treat an unexpected DM, email, or text as unverified, which is what the project FAQ already says.
If you think you were targeted, the FTC asks people to report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center takes complaints at ic3.gov.
What remains unknown
This article does not independently count lookalike LAPTOP contracts on other chains. Publisher tallies of copycat tokens are discovery signals, not verified counts here.
A first-party website and a matching BaseScan page do not make the token safe. They do not prove any particular social post is genuine or fake. Whether a given YouTube comment, Instagram story, or X reply is an impersonation is not established in this piece.
The Substack post dated the claim window at 30 days from the September 9, 2026 launch. A form that still loads is not proof that a reader is eligible. This article does not tell anyone to claim. It also does not independently confirm that the @laptoptoken X account was active on September 26, 2026.
What to watch
Watch the first-party site and FAQ for any change to the posted Base contract or claim instructions. Watch for messages that ask for crypto, a seed phrase, or a connected-wallet signature to receive tokens. None of that is a forecast of price, listings, or demand.
Sources
- Hunter Biden, Introducing LAPTOP, September 9, 2026: https://hunterbiden.substack.com/p/introducing-laptop
- LAPTOP project site, checked September 26, 2026: https://www.laptoptoken.com/
- LAPTOP FAQ: https://www.laptoptoken.com/faq
- BaseScan token page for 0xB095274743941e953c746F9C228DA9c18Bb6ec29: https://basescan.org/token/0xB095274743941e953c746F9C228DA9c18Bb6ec29
- Ethereum.org, How to identify scam tokens: https://ethereum.org/guides/how-to-id-scam-tokens
- FTC, What To Know About Cryptocurrency and Scams: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-cryptocurrency-and-scams
- SEC Office of Investor Education, Social Media and Investment Fraud, August 29, 2022: https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-alerts/social-media-and-investment-fraud-investor-alert
- SEC Office of Investor Education, Celebrity Endorsements, November 1, 2017: https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-alerts/investor-22
- FTC fraud reports: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center: https://www.ic3.gov/Home/FileComplaint
Disclosure: This article explains first-party LAPTOP pages, Ethereum.org token-ID guidance, and FTC and SEC consumer alerts as of Sept. 26, 2026. Matching a contract address is not a recommendation to buy, claim, or hold any token. The featured illustration is a generated editorial image, not a photograph of a real person or event. This article is not financial, legal, or investment advice. AI-assisted research and writing. Cited sources, not AI alone, support the claims.