California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 2409, which bars the state’s public officials from issuing memecoins, the tokens built around personalities, internet jokes or viral trends rather than any particular use. The Block reports that the law also stops companies from listing coins that use an official’s name or likeness. Newsom signed it on Sunday alongside ten other bills on corruption and consumer protection, and his office titled the announcement “The Opposite of Trump”.
The target is not subtle. Donald Trump launched the $TRUMP token three days before his inauguration in January 2025. It rose from under a dollar to about $75 within days, briefly putting its market value near $14 billion, before collapsing, and CoinDesk reports it now trades at about $2. According to the same reporting, nearly a million buyers lost more than $3 billion between them, while Trump’s financial disclosure lists $636 million in royalties and entities affiliated with the Trump Organization hold roughly 80 percent of the supply.
Newsom said no official should profit from their office. The bills signed alongside are arguably more practical. Senate Bill 1208 tackles money laundering through digital assets and sets restitution rules for victims of crypto scams, and a separate measure creates a legal framework for seizing crypto held by transnational criminal networks.
What neither report spells out is the penalty for breaking AB 2409 or the date it takes effect. The more obvious limit is jurisdiction. A state law cannot touch a sitting president, and no California official is known to have launched a coin. As a statement, the ban lands cleanly. As enforcement, it has so far nobody to enforce against, and the real test is whether another state, or Congress, decides to copy it.
