California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation on September 27 that bars the state’s public officials from issuing meme coins, while handing California authorities new powers to pursue crypto-linked crime. The signing, announced in a governor’s office release, came as Newsom pointed directly at President Donald Trump’s own meme coin, which has left its buyers with billions of dollars in losses. It is part of a broader package of bills the governor cast as an effort to combat corruption by public officials and hold crypto fraudsters accountable.
What the new law bans
Assembly Bill 2409, authored by Assemblymember Avelino Valencia, prohibits California public officers and covered public employees from issuing a meme coin, and bars digital asset service providers from listing certain meme coins issued on or after January 1, 2027 that are offered by or in partnership with a covered federal, state, or local official. The measure defines issuance broadly as making a token available for public purchase, donation, or exchange of value, and it reaches elected and appointed officials, state legislators, and members of government boards, commissions, and committees. It cleared the legislature without recorded opposition, passing the Assembly 77-0 and the Senate 40-0 before reaching the governor’s desk.
Civil enforcement, not new crimes
The law creates civil remedies rather than a new criminal offense. California’s attorney general, district attorneys, city attorneys, and county counsel can sue for injunctions and disgorgement of any profits a covered official made from a prohibited token. Politician-linked tokens issued before 2027 are not automatically pulled from trading platforms, keeping the restriction focused on future launches. Newsom framed the measure as an ethics guardrail, saying that “No official should profit off their office,” and tied it to concerns about politicians earning money from digital assets.
A wider crypto crime crackdown
Newsom signed Senate Bill 1208 alongside AB 2409. The companion measure, by Senator Tim Grayson, extends California’s money-laundering statute to digital-asset transactions and establishes procedures for law enforcement to seek warrants, freeze, and forfeit crypto connected to specified crimes, including a path for victims to recover funds. The governor’s office linked the package to the TRUMP token, whose roughly one million buyers lost more than $3 billion in a collapse that wiped out nearly 988,000 retail holders while insiders extracted billions.
