CryptoSlate
An amended New York lawsuit asks a state court to grant legal ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses to a pseudonymous plaintiff, Noah Doe, and two Wyoming entities, ABC Company and XYZ Company. The defendant addresses collectively hold nearly 3.8 million BTC — roughly 18% of Bitcoin's fixed 21 million token supply. Galaxy Digital values the holdings at approximately $293.5 billion at current market prices, with the average address carrying 97.25 BTC (~$7.5 million) and the median holding exactly 50 BTC (~$3.86 million), a footprint that mirrors Bitcoin's original mining reward.
The plaintiffs lean on Article 7-B of New York's Personal Property Law, a framework written for physical items turned over to police and reclaimed after a holding period. To qualify for an expedited track, the complaint relies on an unnamed expert's appraisal that values each wallet's contents at under $10, on the grounds that the private keys needed to move the coins are unavailable — a figure that on-chain data flatly contradicts. Salomon Brothers previously tried to seize the same wallets via OP_RETURN legal notices and a "Doctrine of Abandonment" campaign in 2025; hundreds of addresses moved coins and were excluded, and the silent remainder became this lawsuit's defendant set.
Why it matters
The defendant list is anchored by roughly 21,923 Patoshi-pattern addresses, the early-mined wallets long associated with Satoshi Nakamoto, holding about 1.096 million BTC. The complaint also names a 79,957 BTC wallet linked to the 2011 Mt. Gox breach — widely treated as stolen, contested property — and a counterparty burn address holding 2,131 BTC that was structurally designed so no private key can ever move the funds. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, called it "extraordinary" that a New York court would hand three anonymous parties title to roughly $293 billion in BTC, including Satoshi-linked coins, on a lost-and-found theory propped up by a sub-$10 valuation. New York justices retain broad discretion over declaratory judgments, and a rubber-stamped default win is widely viewed as unlikely.
Market impact
A judgment would not move a single satoshi — no court order can generate private keys or override the math of the protocol. Its real value is leverage at the boundary between Bitcoin's permissionless ledger and traditional finance: a quiet-title decree would let the plaintiffs freeze any of the targeted coins the moment they touch a centralized exchange, custodian, or commercial bank, forcing real owners into protracted litigation to prove identity.
Frequently asked questions
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What is the New York lawsuit over Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin actually claiming?
An amended complaint asks a New York court to grant legal ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses — holding nearly 3.8 million BTC, or roughly 18% of Bitcoin's 21 million supply — to a pseudonymous plaintiff and two Wyoming entities under New York's lost-property law.
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How is the lawsuit valuing wallets worth billions at under $10?
The plaintiffs rely on an unnamed independent expert who appraised each wallet's contents at under $10 because the private keys needed to move the coins are unavailable, fitting an expedited track under New York's lost-property statute.
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Which Satoshi-linked addresses are actually named in the complaint?
Roughly 21,923 Patoshi-pattern addresses associated with Satoshi Nakamoto, holding about 1.096 million BTC, anchor the defendant list. The complaint also names a 79,957 BTC wallet linked to the 2011 Mt. Gox breach and a 2,131 BTC counterparty burn address.
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What happens if the plaintiffs win a default judgment?
A court order cannot generate private keys or move coins, but a quiet-title declaration would let the plaintiffs freeze any of the targeted Bitcoin the moment it lands at a centralized exchange, custodian, or bank, forcing real owners into litigation to recover it.
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When could a default judgment be entered in the case?
Galaxy Digital expects a technical default by late June 2026, roughly 30 days after on-chain service of process, with a formal motion for default judgment anticipated later that summer. Galaxy's Alex Thorn has publicly called a rubber-stamped victory unlikely.
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