Not a single vote was cast against it in either house, and only the governor’s signature is left. State prosecutors could sue to stop an issue and take back what it earned.
California’s legislature has passed a bill that would bar public officers and employees from issuing memecoins. The Senate approved Assembly Bill 2409 last week, 40 votes in favor and none against; the Assembly then concurred in the Senate’s amendments, 78 to nothing.
Lawmakers gave their reason as conflicts of interest and “pay-to-play arrangements”.
The bill counts a coin as issued once it is made available for public purchase, donation or exchange for anything of value, whether or not anyone promotes it. It defines a memecoin as a digital asset that takes its worth chiefly from public interest, speculation or community involvement.
Enforcement would fall to the attorney general, a district attorney, a city attorney or county counsel, who could bring a civil action to halt an issue and recover what it made.
Holders of Official Trump (TRUMP) — the fifth-largest memecoin by market value, at $688 million — are an estimated $3.2 billion underwater, the bulk of that not yet realized, according to a report last week by the consumer group Public Citizen.
Cover image: “Senate Chamber at the California State Capitol” by BenFranske, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, resized, re-encoded.
