No, California didn’t pass a law to seize your idle bitcoin
The X social media account for Marty Bent and Matt Odell’s popular podcast Tales From The Crypt (TFTC) earned 1.2 million views for a wildly inaccurate tweet about bitcoin (BTC). According to the podcasters, California “just passed” a bill to “seize BTC left idle on exchanges.” The misinformation claimed the state could somehow assert “unclaimed property” ownership “after three years of inactivity.” The post was entirely untrue. What actually occurred is far narrower and far less interesting. Assembly Bill 1052 passed the California State Assembly this week. It simply applies existing unclaimed property laws to digital assets on exchanges or other custodial platforms. Rather than a new law allowing the state to confiscate assets or arbitrarily deem them “abandoned,” AB 1052 merely harmonizes digital assets within the same legal framework as traditional assets like bank accounts or safe deposit boxes. JUST IN: Bitcoin held on exchanges for +3 year ...