Approval of the bill to mandate the custody of virtual currency Spot, California House of Representatives

! ## Landmark bill?

On June 5, the California State Assembly passed the AB1052 bill, which includes virtual currencies under the "Dormant Property Law," and the bill has progressed to discussions in the State Senate. The bill features groundbreaking content that abolishes the traditional cash conversion method and mandates physical custody when transferring virtual currency assets that have been left idle on exchanges for three years under state management.

Under the current system, dormant accounts' Bitcoin is forcibly sold, and when the owners later claim it, they can only receive the cash price at the time of sale. The bill's authors cited an example where 0.444 BTC purchased for $100 in 2015 was sold for $3,500 in 2018, and when claimed in 2025, the owner would only receive $1,554 instead of the current value of $46,620.

Under the AB1052 bill, custodial service providers are required to transfer virtual currencies to a state-designated authorized custodian without cashing them out after a three-year period of inactivity. Owners will be able to receive the original virtual currencies when claiming them later, allowing them to benefit from price increases.

The bill extends the existing dormant property law framework to virtual currencies, stipulating similar treatment as bank accounts and securities accounts. The applicable targets are only managed platforms such as exchanges, and self-managed assets in personal wallets are not included. The explicit protection clause for self-custody has been removed from previous versions.