California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2409, barring the state's public officials from issuing memecoins, as part of an 11-bill anti-corruption package. Newsom's office titled the announcement "The Opposite of Trump," pointing to the billions in losses tied to the president's $TRUMP token.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law on Sunday that bars the state's public officials from issuing memecoins, a cryptocurrency built around a personality, internet joke, or viral trend rather than any specific use case. The bill, AB 2409, arrived alongside ten other measures covering corruption, consumer protection, and crypto crime, including rules for repaying scam victims and a legal process to seize crypto from transnational criminal networks.
A law framed as a rebuke of Trump
Newsom's office titled the announcement "THE OPPOSITE OF TRUMP," accusing the Trump administration of corruption and self-dealing through the $TRUMP memecoin. Newsom said "No official should profit off their office" in the press release accompanying the signing. His office did not clarify whether the ban would reach tokens already in existence, such as $TRUMP itself.
The losses behind the political jab
President Trump launched $TRUMP three days before his early 2025 inauguration, and the token's price rose from under $1 to $75 within a day or two, pushing its market capitalization to $14 billion. It then crashed just as fast.
Data tracked by Nansen shows 988,905 buyers lost a combined $3.81 billion. Trump's financial disclosure separately lists $636 million in royalties from the coin, with Trump Organization affiliates owning about 80% of the supply. The token trades at $2.03 as of this writing.
Trump's office did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for comment. Newsom, whose second and final term ends in January, is widely seen as a 2028 presidential contender.
Source: CoinDesk
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