CryptoSlate
A New York County Supreme Court lawsuit seeking to declare millions of Bitcoin in long-dormant addresses as abandoned property has narrowed after the plaintiffs voluntarily dropped 44 defendants that moved coins during the litigation. The July 7 filing removes a small slice of the 39,069 wallets targeted by ABC Company, XYZ Company, and the pseudonymous Noah Doe, but it has sharpened the legal question at the heart of the case: whether silence on a public blockchain is enough to support a court declaration of abandonment.
Galaxy Digital head of research Alex Thorn said the removed addresses held 21,443 BTC when the suit was filed and have since moved 46,334 BTC on-chain, worth roughly $2.9 billion at recent Bitcoin prices. The largest removed address, John Doe 106, moved more than 20,000 BTC through March through July while retaining close to 2,000 BTC.
Why it matters
The dormant wallet argument carries weight because the addresses collectively hold millions of Bitcoin, including coins from Bitcoin's earliest mining years and wallet clusters researchers have linked to Satoshi Nakamoto. At recent prices the targeted stash has been valued near $293 billion, putting the suit in the same order of magnitude as national Bitcoin reserve proposals. The plaintiffs' theory is that long inactivity should be treated like unclaimed property left at a hotel: a court can declare the assets abandoned and transfer them to a finder who has reported them to authorities.
The discontinuance cuts against that theory. The plaintiffs' amended complaint argued that any on-chain action by an address shows it had not been abandoned, which is precisely what the 44 removed addresses did. That leaves the court weighing whether a wallet can be deemed abandoned right up until it signs a transaction.
A new defendant, John Doe 33, filed a verified answer on July 8 claiming a portfolio that exceeded $80 billion when the case began. He argues public Bitcoin addresses are not legal persons, that the OP_RETURN notice campaign never reached real keyholders, and that an identified owner had already contacted plaintiffs' counsel by phone, undermining the claim that owners were unreachable.
Frequently asked questions
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What is the New York lawsuit about Satoshi-era Bitcoin?
ABC Company, XYZ Company, and pseudonymous Noah Doe filed suit in New York County Supreme Court asking the court to declare long-dormant Bitcoin addresses, including wallets researchers link to Bitcoin's earliest mining era and to Satoshi Nakamoto, as abandoned property held by the plaintiffs.
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Why were 44 defendants dropped from the case?
The plaintiffs filed a voluntary discontinuance on July 7 removing 44 addresses that moved BTC after the lawsuit began. Galaxy Digital's Alex Thorn said the removed wallets held 21,443 BTC at filing and moved 46,334 BTC on-chain, worth roughly $2.9B at recent Bitcoin prices.
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Who is John Doe 33 and what does his filing argue?
A pseudonymous defendant who filed a verified answer on July 8, claiming a portfolio that exceeded $80 billion when the suit began. He argues public Bitcoin addresses are not legal persons, that OP_RETURN notice messages never reached real keyholders, and that an identified owner already contacted plaintiffs' counsel…
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What is the legal theory at the heart of the case?
Plaintiffs argue that long inactivity on a public blockchain can substitute for proof that an owner intended to abandon property, similar to unclaimed goods left at a hotel. Industry amici argue this theory conflicts with self-custody because control is established through private keys, not possession.
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What could the ruling mean beyond Satoshi-era coins?
The Digital Chamber warned that accepting the plaintiffs' theory could place a cloud over self-custodied digital assets broadly, pressuring holders to transact just to prove continued ownership, and could extend to tokenized assets and blockchain-based records where control is proven through cryptographic signatures.
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