Bitcoin · New York · Cointelegraph
New York suit tests dropped property claim over dormant Bitcoin
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 1 source. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
◌ Single Source
A New York lawsuit seeks ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets, raising questions over lost crypto, private keys and property law.
Key facts
- There are currently 3.5 million Bitcoin, worth about $271 billion, that have been dormant for the past 10 years and another 6.6 million coins, worth around $577 billion, that have been dormant
- ABC Company, XYZ Company, Noah Doe, lawsuit against John Does holding 39,069 BTC
- ABC Company, XYZ Company, Noah Doe, lawsuit against John Does holding 39,069 BTC, Bitcoin wallets
- The listed addresses hold an estimated 3.7 million BTC, valued at about $285 billion, according to Sani, the founder of Bitcoin onchain analytics platform Timechain Index
Summary
A New York lawsuit filed by Noah Doe and two Wyoming-based LLCs, ABC Company and XYZ Company, seeks a court order declaring ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses, raising important questions about the legal treatment of inactive Bitcoin under property laws. Filed on May 1, the suit claims that the coins tied to the listed addresses represent legally abandoned property they found and reported to the New York Police Department and claimed under New York lost-property law. The plaintiffs claim that the dormant Bitcoin wallets were legally “abandoned” property that they found, including wallets belonging to early Bitcoin miners and addresses attributed to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, among other lost coins and unidentified entities. The lawsuit raises important questions about the legal treatment of long-dormant Bitcoin wallets, including Satoshi-era tokens that have been inactive for over a decade.