To clarify whether these legal duties apply to persons who launch memecoins through websites like Pump.Fun (who buy their coins like everyone else, albeit at launch and therefore at a discount and in potentially fluctuating quantities in the market) new laws may be needed.
In July 2026, a new regime in California, where Biesk’s family lives, which will require residents to obtain a license to participate in “digital financial asset trading activities“, including the exchange, transfer, storage or management of certain cryptoassets. President-elect Donald Trump has also promised new crypto regulations. But, for now, there are no crypto-specific laws in force.
“We are in a legal vacuum where there are no clear laws,” says Andrew Gordon, partner at law firm Gordon Law. “Once we know what is ‘in bounds,’ we will also know what is ‘out of bounds.’ Hopefully, this will create a climate where rug pulling doesn’t happen, or when it does it is considered a criminal violation.”
On Nov. 19, as the night wore on, angry messages continued to arrive, according to Biesk. Although some celebrated their son’s antics and asked him to go back and create another currency, others were threatening or aggressive: “Your son stole my fucking money,” wrote a person on Instagram.
Biesk and his wife were still trying to understand how their son had been able to make so much money so quickly: “I was trying to understand exactly how this cryptocurrency trading thing works with memecoin“, emphasizes Biesk.
Some merchants memecoinsensing that there could be money in the scam of the turn of events, created new coins on Pump.Fun inspired by Biesk and his wife: QUANT DAD and QUANTS MOM. Both are now practically worthless.
Game over?
Equal parts disturbed and bewildered, Biesk and his wife came up with a tentative plan: make all public social media accounts private, stop answering the phone, and generally hunker down until it all blows over. (Biesk’s account is active as of this writing.) Biesk declined to comment on whether the family contacted law enforcement or what would happen to the funds, saying only that his son would “keep the money.”
A few hours later, an X account in the name of Biesk’s son posted on to my parents, I will return it to them [sic]”said the message. Biesk claims that the account is not managed by his son.
Although alarmed by the reactions, Biesk is impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit and technical ability his son demonstrated. “It’s actually kind of a sophisticated trading platform,” he says. “He obviously learned it on his own.”
That his teenage son was able to make $50,000 in one afternoon, Biesk theorizes, speaks to the fundamentally different relationship that kids that age have with money and investing, characterized by an urgency and hyperactivity that borders on conventional wisdom.
“For me, cryptocurrencies can be difficult to understand, because there is nothing behind it, there is nothing tangible. But I think children relate to this intangible digital world more than adults,” says Biesk. “This has an immediacy to him. It’s almost like he understands it better.”
On December 1, after a two-week hiatus, Biesk’s son returned to Pump.Fun to release five new memecoinsseemingly unfazed by the abuse. Ignoring the warnings included in the names of some of the new coins themselves; one was called test (test) and another dontbuy (don’t buy). People bought. And Biesk’s son won another $5,000.
Article originally published in WIRED. Adapted by Mauricio Serfatty Godoy.
#Teen #Selling #Cryptocurrency #Created
