In July 2026, a new regime will take effect in California, where Bieskâs family lives, requiring residents to obtain a license to take part in âdigital financial asset business activity,â including exchanging, transferring, storing or administering certain crypto assets. President-elect Donald Trump has also promised new crypto regulations. But for now, there are no crypto-specific laws in place.
âWe are in a legal vacuum where there are no clear laws,â says Andrew Gordon, partner at law firm Gordon Law. âOnce we know what is âin bounds,â we will also know what is âout of bounds.â This will hopefully create a climate where rug pulls don’t happen, or when they do they are seen as a criminal violation.â
On November 19, as the evening wore on, angry messages continued to tumble in, says Biesk. Though some celebrated his son’s antics, calling for him to return and create another coin, others were threatening or aggressive. âYour son stole my fucking money,â wrote one person over Instagram.
Biesk and his wife were still trying to understand quite how their son was able to make so much money, so fast. âI was trying to get an understanding of exactly how this meme crypto trading works,â says Biesk.
Some memecoin traders, sensing there could be money in riffing off 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.)
Equally disturbed and bewildered, Biesk and his wife formed a provisional plan: to make all public social media accounts private, stop answering the phone, and, generally, hunker down until things blew over. (Bieskâs account is active at the time of writing.) Biesk declined to comment on whether the family made contact with law enforcement or what would happen to the funds, saying only that his son would âput the money away.â
A few hours later, an X account under the name of Bieskâs son posted on X, pleading for people to stop contacting his parents. âIm sorry about Quant, I didnt realize I get so much money. Please dont write to my parents, I wiill pay you back [sic],â read the post. Biesk claims the account is not operated by his son.
Though alarmed by the backlash, Biesk is impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit and technical capability his son displayed. âItâs actually sort of a sophisticated trading platform,â he says. âHe obviously learned it on his own.â
That his teenager was capable of making $50,000 in an evening, Biesk theorizes, speaks to the fundamentally different relationship kids of that age have with money and investing, characterized by an urgency and hyperactivity that rubs up against traditional wisdom.
âTo me, crypto can be hard to grasp, because there is nothing there behind itâitâs not anything tangible. But I think kids relate to this intangible digital world more than adults do,â says Biesk. âThis has an immediacy to him. Itâs almost like he understands this better.â
On December 1, after a two-week hiatus, Bieskâs son returned to Pump.Fun to launch five new memecoins, apparently undeterred by the abuse. Disregarding the warnings built into the very names of some of the new coinsâone was named test and another dontbuyâpeople bought in. Bieskâs son made another $5,000.