In July 2026, a new regime will come into effect in California, where Biesk's family lives, requiring residents to obtain a license to engage in “digital financial asset activities,” including exchanging, transferring, storing or managing certain crypto assets. Newly elected President Donald Trump has also promised new crypto regulations. But for now, there are no crypto-specific laws in effect.
“We are in a legal vacuum where there are no clear laws,” said Andrew Gordon, partner at law firm Gordon Law. “Once we know what is 'within the limits', we will also know what is 'outside the limits'. Hopefully this will create an environment where carpet pulling does not occur, or when it does, it is seen as a criminal offense.”
On November 19, as the evening progressed, the angry messages continued to pour in, Biesk says. While some celebrated his son's antics and called for him to return and create another currency, others were threatening or aggressive. “Your son stole my damn money,” someone wrote on Instagram.
Biesk and his wife were still trying to understand how their son could make so much money so quickly. “I was trying to understand how this meme crypto trading works,” says Biesk.
Some memecoin traders, sensing that there could be money in predicting the course of events, created new coins on Pump.Fun inspired by Biesk and his wife: QUANT DAD and QUANTS MOM. (Both are practically worthless now.)
Equal parts alarmed and bewildered, Biesk and his wife formed a tentative plan: make all public social media accounts private, stop answering the phone and, in general, sit tight until things blow over. (Biesk's account is active as of this writing.) Biesk declined to comment on whether the family contacted police or what would happen to the money, saying only that his son ” would put away money'.
A few hours later, an X account was posted on X under the name of Biesk's son, urging people to stop contacting his parents. 'I'm sorry about Quant, I didn't know I get that much money. Please don't write to my parents, I will pay you back [sic]”, read the message. Biesk claims the account is not managed by his son.
Although alarmed by the backlash, Biesk is impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit and technical capabilities his son displayed. “It's basically a kind of advanced trading platform,” he says. “He clearly learned it himself.”
That his teenager was able to make $50,000 in one night, Biesk theorizes, speaks to the fundamentally different relationship children that age have with money and investing, characterized by an urgency and hyperactivity that runs counter to traditional wisdom.
“For me, crypto can be difficult to understand because there is nothing behind it – it is nothing tangible. But I think children interact with this elusive digital world more than adults,” says Biesk. “There's something direct about this for him. It's almost like he understands this better.”
On December 1, after a two-week hiatus, Biesk's son returned to Pump.Fun to launch five new memecoins, apparently undeterred by the abuse. Ignoring the warnings built into the names of some of the new coins (one was called test and the other don't buy) people bought along. Biesk's son earned another $5,000.
