Before the launch of LAPTOP, some traders linked the motivation for the token issuance to his criminal case and debts. Hunter Biden was convicted in 2024 on three felony gun charges and admitted to nine tax-related charges, subsequently receiving a full pardon from his father, then-President Joe Biden. The pardon cleared his criminal liability but did not erase his legal fees.

He previously swore that he owed his former law firm Winston & Strawn (now known as Winston Taylor) approximately $15 million to $17 million, covering gun, tax federal cases, congressional investigations, and defamation lawsuits. The law firm filed a lawsuit in Washington in 2025 to recover the debts. In April 2026, his lawyer Barry Coburn wrote in a filing that the client "lives overseas" and "cannot pay," stating that he could not even cover current legal fees. Hunter himself mentioned a legal debt of about $17 million on a podcast. The law firm also requested to review his communications with friends and Democratic donors regarding the payment of legal fees and attempted to place a lien on the approximately $1.7 million defamation judgment he won. Other reports listed his total debts alongside former benefactor Kevin Morris's approximately $5 million and a former gallery's $1 million.

Recently, he has described cryptocurrency as a way out. Public statements include "fiat currency is a scam" and "decentralized digital currency and blockchain are the inevitable future"; when asked for his opinion, he directly replied "Hyperliquid." He stated that he wanted to put each artwork on the blockchain and receive Bitcoin when selling paintings, and that Andreas Antonopoulos's "The Internet of Money" opened his eyes; about 99 pieces have been certified by Verisart. He also mentioned entering crypto due to his interest in technology and wanting to "make some money." Regarding the 2028 presidential election, he stated he has not decided, and told billionaire John Catsimatidis that if he receives support from him, he "might have to run"; market predictions previously gave him about a 1.7% chance of winning the Democratic nomination.

Price references are already on the table. TRUMP peaked around $74 to $75 during the January 2025 inauguration window, then deeply retraced, with some quotes as low as about $2.27; MELANIA fell over 90% from a high of about $13.73, with some quotes around $0.11. The Financial Times and others have estimated the sales and trading fees of the two tokens at about $427 million, with the family's crypto-related pre-tax profits reported to exceed $1 billion, while the retail side has seen significant losses. The LAPTOP airdrop also specifically named TRUMP's loss wallet. The opening performance has not occurred, but the template has been seen before.

Mechanically, the question is whether emotional trading covers civil debts, with the traded items being bills that remain after the pardon. The event driver is the September 9 launch of Base and its political symbolism. If funds come in, they will first go through offshore issuance entities and market-making loans, and will not automatically settle Washington's legal fees. Expected benefits fall on locked founder positions; the pressure is on those who interpret "wanting to make some money" as a debt repayment plan. The criminal case has been pardoned, but the promissory note remains, and the tokens have no repayment terms.

Source: Public Information