California signs memecoin ban for public officials

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2409, banning the state's public officials from issuing memecoins, as part of an 11-bill anti-corruption and consumer-protection package. The announcement was titled "THE OPPOSITE OF TRUMP", framing the law as a rebuke of President Trump's $TRUMP token, which spiked from under $1 to $75 within days of its January 2025 launch before crashing — Nansen data shows roughly 989,000 buyers lost $3.81 billion combined while Trump's disclosures listed $636 million in royalties.

• Other bills in the package set rules for paying back crypto scam victims and created a legal process to seize crypto from transnational criminal networks.
• It is unclear whether the ban covers already-existing meme tokens such as $TRUMP.
• Newsom, widely seen as a 2028 presidential contender, said "no official should profit off their office."