Donald Trump’s financial disclosure lists $636 million in royalties from his memecoin. Nearly a million people who bought it lost a combined $3.81 billion. California just made sure its own politicians can’t run the same play.
On Sunday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2409, a law that bans the state’s public officials from issuing memecoins. Those are cryptocurrencies built around a famous personality, an internet joke or a viral trend rather than any specific use case.
Newsom’s office didn’t bother with subtlety. The announcement was titled “THE OPPOSITE OF TRUMP.”
A press release aimed at one person
The release accused the Trump administration of corruption and self-dealing, and it named the viral $TRUMP memecoin as one example.
“While the scam that is Donald Trump continues to hurt American families, California is fighting to make our economy work for people, not the powerful. 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 in the press release.
Trump’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
There’s an obvious gap in the new law. It’s unclear whether the ban covers meme tokens that already exist, such as $TRUMP. So the coin the whole announcement is built around may not be touched by it at all.
The numbers behind the jab
Trump launched $TRUMP three days before his early 2025 inauguration. Buyers piled in so fast that the price went from under $1 to $75 within a day or two, pushing its market capitalization to $14 billion.
Then it crashed just as quickly. Small holders took most of the damage.
Data tracked by Nansen shows 988,905 buyers lost a combined $3.81 billion. Trump Organization affiliates own about 80% of the supply. As of this writing, the token trades at $2.03.
Put those figures side by side and you can see why Newsom’s team reached for the coin. $636 million in royalties on one side. $3.81 billion in losses on the other.
Part of a bigger package
AB 2409 wasn’t signed alone. It was one of 11 bills on corruption and consumer protection that Newsom signed together.
Two of the others deal with crypto directly. One sets rules for paying back victims of crypto scams. Another creates a legal process for seizing crypto from transnational criminal networks.
Those two may end up mattering more to ordinary Californians than the memecoin ban. The ban stops future officials from launching a coin. The restitution rules deal with people who’ve already lost money.
The politics are hard to miss
Newsom’s second and final term as governor ends in January. He’s widely seen as a 2028 presidential contender, and a bill package branded “THE OPPOSITE OF TRUMP” fits that campaign.
If you hold $TRUMP at $2.03, a California law about future coins won’t change your position. What it does do is rule out the next state official launching a coin of their own days before taking office.
