California Enacts New Law to Protect Unclaimed Cryptocurrency from Escheatment

BlockBeats News, October 14th, according to Decrypt's report, California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a bill making California the first state in the U.S. to explicitly protect unclaimed cryptocurrency from forced liquidation, ensuring that digital assets remain in their original form rather than being converted to cash before being transferred to state custody.

Senate Bill 822, introduced by Senator Josh Becker, updates California's decades-old unclaimed property law to include cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, placing them under the same legal framework as abandoned bank accounts and securities. The bill, which unanimously passed both houses of the state legislature in September, was signed into law by Newsom on Saturday. The legislation explicitly states that digital financial assets are intangible property subject to the unclaimed property law, resolving uncertainties about how to deal with dormant crypto accounts (i.e., accounts that have been inactive or uncontactable for three consecutive years).