California Advances Bill to Regulate Unclaimed Crypto

- Unanimous Assembly passage of California's AB 1052. - Regulation of crypto payments, native form for unclaimed crypto. On June 5, 2025, Cointelegraph reported that California's State Assembly passed Assembly Bill (AB) 1052, which aims to regulate cryptocurrency payments and manage unclaimed crypto holdings. The Assembly passed the bill unanimously with a 78-0 vote, and it mandates that the state take possession of cryptocurrency from exchanges if an owner does not access their account or perform ownership actions for 3 years. This legislation requires a state-selected, licensed custodian to keep unclaimed cryptocurrency in its native form, meaning the state will not liquidate it into fiat currency. Owners can reclaim their crypto in its original form, such as Bitcoin. Additionally, the bill includes provisions allowing businesses and individuals to use cryptocurrency for payments in transactions within the state. AB 1052 will now proceed to the California Senate for consideration. The Senate may amend or reject the bill, or pass it to Governor Gavin Newsom, who can then sign it into law or veto it. If enacted, the law will take effect on July 1, 2026, and from that date, any entity engaging in digital financial asset business activities in California must obtain a license from the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI), unless exempt. Reactions to the bill have been mixed. While some critics on social media call it an overreach of power, supporters like Eric Peterson from the Satoshi Action Fund offer a different view. Peterson, who helped draft an earlier version of the bill, says it updates existing unclaimed property laws to include cryptocurrencies, and this update prevents their liquidation. Peterson and others clarify that similar laws already exist for inactive bank and brokerage accounts, and they also state the new law will not affect users who self-custody their crypto. Furthermore, Hailey Lennon, a former regulatory counsel at Coinbase, noted that most states have similar unclaimed property laws with which exchanges already comply. In addition to AB 1052, the State Assembly also passed AB 1180, another related bill. AB 1180 proposes that state agencies accept cryptocurrency payments and includes a pilot program running until January 1, 2031, with full state implementation planned for July 1, 2026. As of 08:18 UTC on June 5, 2025, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at $104,591.54, reflecting a 0.797% decrease in the last 24 hours.