Hunter Biden previously stated he entered the crypto industry because he "wanted to make some money", and was earlier exposed for owing his former law firm roughly $17 million.

A token disclosure document for LAPTOP, a meme coin launched by Hunter Biden, son of former U.S. President Joe Biden, shows that the token is issued by the Cayman Islands-based Phoenix Veritas Foundation and British Virgin Islands (BVI) firm Phoenix Veritas Ventures Ltd, and co-founded by Hunter Biden and other parties. LAPTOP is defined as an ERC-20 community token and digital collectible deployed on Base. The project team explicitly states that the token has no utility function, no plans to develop future utility, and cannot be staked. Holding LAPTOP does not represent equity ownership in the Phoenix Veritas Foundation, Phoenix Veritas Ventures Ltd, or any other entity, nor does it grant holders voting, governance, revenue, profit-sharing, dividend, or income rights. The project team added that LAPTOP’s value is derived entirely from community sentiment, and the issuer has not conducted any fundraising activities related to the token. The risk disclosure section further notes that LAPTOP is provided “as-is”, with no development roadmap committed to by the project team, nor any obligation to continue developing the token. LAPTOP has no price floor, buyback, or redemption mechanism; its price is driven entirely by meme culture sentiment and market speculation, meaning purchasers could lose their entire investment. Additionally, 65% of LAPTOP’s total supply is subject to lockups or multi-year vesting schedules, and future release or sale of these concentrated holdings could exert selling pressure.

According to GMGN data, the stock-meme project MEME on Robinhood Chain has exceeded $130 million in market capitalization, currently trading at $132 million with a 24-hour gain of over 41%. MEME leverages the stock trading platform Robinhood, pairing with tokenized AMC Entertainment (the U.S. cinema chain with ticker AMC) as its liquidity pool base, providing liquidity via the MEME/AMC trading pair. BlockBeats Note: Stock Meme is an emerging concept merging traditional meme coins with tokenized U.S. stocks: instead of pairing with USDT or ETH, meme coins are directly matched with on-chain U.S. stock tokens (e.g., NVDA, TSLA, AAPL, etc.). This approach retains meme coins’ high volatility and community-driven speculative traits while tapping into the popularity and narrative of real stocks. A portion of transaction fees is typically funneled back to the community treasury to accumulate corresponding U.S. stock tokens, forming a dual-driven model of "sentiment speculation + real asset anchoring". Prices are highly volatile; investors should exercise caution.

Beating AI Flash News, via Bloomberg: OpenAI Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki warns that artificial intelligence is evolving rapidly and growing increasingly difficult for humans to understand and control. Current AI models can already operate computers, collaborate with humans and other AIs, and carry out research projects. He predicts AI is not far from achieving "recursive self-improvement"—the ability to improve itself without human intervention. Pachocki stated: "This is a moment requiring extreme caution. I worry no one is prepared for the consequences of the continuous rapid advancement of machine intelligence." He added that developers can further align AI with human interests, or slow development if needed; before common safety standards are established, proactive slowdown by AI labs should become the norm. OpenAI previously disclosed that the AI model that attacked the Hugging Face research platform had coordinated with each other via message boards and was not detected in a timely manner. Due to GPT-6 Astra’s advanced cybersecurity capabilities, OpenAI has opted to limit its release scope; Anthropic has also not yet made its cutting-edge model Mythos available to the public for similar reasons. Meanwhile, OpenAI still plans to build a "true automated AI researcher" within two years.

Robinhood chain issuance platform Long.xyz stated in a post that its tokenized stock trading volume on Robinhood Chain has exceeded $1 billion, reaching a new milestone. Since Robinhood Chain went live, it has accounted for 15% of the total trading volume of tokenized stock decentralized exchanges (DEX) on the chain. Meanwhile, despite Robinhood Chain’s Total Value Locked (TVL) having grown 10-fold, Long.xyz still makes up 10% of the total tokenized stock TVL on the chain.

Hunter Biden, son of former US President Joe Biden, confirmed he will launch the meme coin LAPTOP on the Base blockchain on September 9. He shared the token code and a 31-second Fox News clip on X, which has garnered over 1.7 million views. However, the crypto community’s reaction has been largely mocking and skeptical. Some users point to a contradiction: Hunter Biden previously criticized Trump-linked crypto projects, yet he is now launching his own meme coin. Traders have suffered losses from numerous political and celebrity meme coins before—for example, the TRUMP and MELANIA coins have both seen their market caps drop by over 90% since launch. While LAPTOP plans to allocate 20% of its total supply to airdrops to compensate some TRUMP coin holders, this has not eased market concerns. The timing of the launch has also become a point of contention. Some traders argue that releasing LAPTOP’s code two days in advance gives automated trading bots and front-running traders time to prepare, putting regular users at a disadvantage. Within minutes of Hunter Biden’s post, multiple fake tokens with the same name emerged across networks. Other traders view the launch as Base’s move to compete for meme coin trading volume, questioning that it is chasing market hype rather than listing based on project quality. Kraken briefly posted a promotion for LAPTOP’s launch before deleting it, a move welcomed by some community users; Pump.fun, meanwhile, continues to promote the token, advertising a 0.1% trading fee. Political and celebrity-themed tokens often attract initial buying, but their ability to sustain funding afterward is highly uncertain.

According to The Wall Street Journal, smart ring maker Oura has listed Robinhood as an underwriter in its IPO filings, marking Robinhood’s first formal participation in IPO underwriting. Oura’s upcoming IPO is expected to command a valuation exceeding $11 billion. Joint lead underwriters include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Allen & Co., and Jefferies, with Robinhood ranking last among the 18 underwriting institutions. Robinhood obtained regulatory approval for its underwriting business in June this year. As an underwriter, Robinhood is expected to gain greater influence over how many shares Oura ultimately allocates to its clients. Currently, hot IPOs typically prioritize allocations to institutional investors, leaving retail investors with smaller share allocations than their actual demand through brokerages. The two firms already have existing ties: Oura has invited former Robinhood finance chief Jason Warnick to join its board, while Robinhood’s closed-end fund launched in March this year has invested in Oura, which accounts for 3.64% of the fund’s assets. However, Georgetown University finance professor Reena Aggarwal believes Robinhood’s initial influence in the IPO underwriting market may still be limited.