California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation prohibiting public officials from issuing memecoins — cryptocurrencies based on online jokes, trends, or celebrities. The new rule also stops companies, whether related to the official or not, from creating a memecoin using a public official's likeness or image. The governor's office cited reports that about a million investors lost an alleged $3.8 billion on the memecoin released by President Donald Trump in 2025 as motivation for the measure.
"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 legislation is part of a broader set of crypto-related actions in the state. Newsom also signed bills creating formal processes for crypto fraud victims to recoup their money and codifying an approach for seizing crypto assets from transnational criminal networks.
Beyond crypto, the governor signed legislation addressing abuses of "ghost ticket" sales and exploitation of online reservation systems for profit, along with several new health care-related policies. The memecoin restriction is the most direct attempt yet to separate public office from speculative token markets, responding to a crash that affected a significant number of retail investors. According to the single source, Engadget, no other state has enacted a similar rule mentioned in the report. The source is the sole basis for this article and does not provide contrasting views or commentary from opponents of the legislation.}