California is banning public officials from making memecoins

The state has enacted several new rules around cryptocurrencies.

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California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation aimed at restricting how elected leaders can leverage crypto for personal gain. The state's public officials are not permitted to issue memecoins, a form of cryptocurrency based on online jokes, trends or celebrities. The governor's office pointed to reports that about a million investors lost an alleged $3.8 billion on their purchases of the memecoin released by President Donald Trump in 2025 as a the motivation behind the new rule.

"No official should profit off their office — and we're putting stronger protections in place to ensure it doesn't happen in our state," Newsom said. The bill also prohibits a company, related or not, from making a memecoin using "the likeness or image" of a public official.

The governor's other recent legislative actions created official processes for helping crypto fraud victims recoup their money and codified an approach for seizing crypto assets from transnational criminal networks. Outside of that topic, Newsom has also signed bills on subjects ranging from abuse of "ghost ticket" sales, exploitation of online reservation systems for profit and several new health care-related policies.