The New Hunter Biden Meme Coin Is Down 98% Since Launch. Here's What Crypto Investors Need to Know.

Meme coins have long been a staple of the crypto community. These crypto assets typically have no obvious utility. Their value stems from social trends and the whims of traders.

The first meme coin -- arguably the most successful meme coin of all time -- was Dogecoin (CRYPTO:DOGE). The token was launched in 2013 mostly as a joke.

"I don't think we're changing the world or anything. We're just trying to have fun, and the community seems to have fun with it," the project's founder said in 2014. At that time, Dogecoin's price hovered around $0.0002 per token.

By 2021, however, the price of DOGE surged to $0.64 -- a gain of more than 300,000%. "I never would have imagined Dogecoin would become what it is today," Dogecoin's founder said that year. "It's a crazy ride, but it's also a reminder that anything can happen."

The success of Dogecoin spawned many copycats. At the start of 2025, for example, Trump Coin (CRYPTO:TRUMP) launched, backed by Donald Trump himself. The token quickly hit a $9 billion market cap, but its valuation has since fallen to around $600 million. The President reportedly earned $636 million from the meme coin's organizers.

Capitalizing on the move, Hunter Biden launched his own meme coin this week: Hunter Biden's Laptop. According to reports, up to 20% of the token supply will be airdropped to investors who lost money from buying Trump's meme coin.

LAPTOP's market cap swiftly surged to a $9 billion market cap, only for its valuation to plummet below $600 million within the first hour of trading.

How should investors respond to the resurgence of meme coins? History paints a clear lesson.

Meme coin investing is riskier than many investors realize

Investing in meme coins can hardly be called investing. In reality, these crypto tokens are akin to playing the lottery. That is, sizable gains can be had, but the odds of success are strikingly low.

According to some estimates, thousands of meme coins launch every week. Heavy volatility is the norm, with few ever reaching mass popularity.

"Meme coins are typically more volatile than established cryptocurrencies, with prices that can swing 50% to 90% in a single day based on social media trends or celebrity endorsements," warns Bitso, a crypto trading platform. "Many projects lack the technical infrastructure or long-term roadmaps of more established crypto assets."

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But here's the thing: investors don't need to speculate on risky meme coins to make large long-term profits. The trick is to stick with crypto projects building real technology, with token prices supported by real fundamentals. The other trick is maintain what crypto enthusiasts call "diamond hands" -- otherwise known as holding an asset through extreme ups and downs.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) is perhaps the greatest example of this strategy in action. Bitcoin has many aspects of utility, most notably serving as a digital store-of-value. Like gold, Bitcoin has a limited long-term supply. And given its insurmountable history as the first crypto token, as well as its name brand recognition and market cap dominance, Bitcoin will likely be viewed as "digital gold" for years to come.

Since debuting in 2009, Bitcoin's value has repeatedly surged several times in value, only to give up most of those gains in sudden corrections. But over time, Bitcoin's price has gradually improved from $500 to over $78,000.

Meme coins like Dogecoin will continue to play an important role in the crypto community. Investors, however, are likely better off sticking with blue-chip crypto projects with stronger real-world utility.

Ryan Vanzo has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.