California passed a bill to seize unclaimed Bitcoin and crypto from exchanges if left untouched by users for over three years.
The California Assembly passed a bill enabling the state to claim Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from crypto exchanges that consumers have not claimed for the past three years.
Nevertheless, there is a caveat: the bill’s proponents assert that unclaimed cryptocurrencies will not be liquidated but rather stored by a custodian.
The California lower house passed the contentious partisan Assembly Bill (AB) 1052 on June 3, which was introduced on February 20 of this year.
The bill includes provisions that would enable the state of California to seize any intangible property, including digital assets, that have been idle in users’ accounts for more than three years.
The Unclaimed Property Law provides that all intangible personal property of an apparent owner whose last known address or domicile was in the state, including intangible personal property maintained in a deposit or an account, which is held in a fiduciary capacity for the benefit of another person, escheats to the state if for more than 3 years after it becomes payable or distributable, the apparent owner has not taken specified actions showing an interest in or control of the property,” read an excerpt from the bill.
The measure will now be sent to the California Senate for additional modifications before approval.
The bill was initially introduced in the California lower house by member Valencia and has been modified on three separate occasions, with the most recent modification occurring on May 23, 2025.
Can California State Seize Your Unclaimed Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies?
The crypto community criticized the bill online and questioned whether it was equitable for the state to seize any intangible assets as per their whims, even when it was introduced in the House.
Nevertheless, a specific section of the law explicitly specifies that the cryptocurrencies that have been seized will not be liquidated.
“If the digital asset account that escheats to the state pursuant to this section contains digital assets and the holder has full control of the necessary private keys required to transfer those digital assets, the holder shall report and deliver the digital assets in their native form to the qualified custodian designated by the Controller under Section 1516.6 within 30 days of reporting, and such placement with the Controller’s designated qualified custodian constitutes delivery. The holder shall provide the Controller with proof of delivery upon request,” read the bill.
