The Legal Flaws in Claiming Dormant Bitcoin Wallets
A massive legal battle is brewing in New York over control of some of the oldest and most valuable cryptocurrency in existence. A pseudonymous plaintiff known as “Noah Doe,” alongside two Wyoming-based LLCs, recently filed a lawsuit seeking legal ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses. The plaintiffs claim that the Bitcoin tied to these addresses—which holds an estimated collective value of $229 billion—constitutes abandoned property. To justify their claim, they reported the crypto to the New York Police Department, attempting to seize the assets under the state’s lost-property laws.
However, a major roadblock has emerged for the plaintiffs. A defendant identifying themselves as “John Doe 33” has stepped forward with a motion to dismiss the case entirely. This defendant argues that a lawsuit targeting Bitcoin addresses is fundamentally defective because alphanumeric data strings are neither people nor legal entities that can be subjected to a court’s jurisdiction. Furthermore, the defense points out a glaring logical gap in the plaintiff’s strategy: a public Bitcoin address cannot legally be considered “lost” or “found” property in New York because its existence and contents are permanently and publicly visible on the blockchain for anyone to verify.
The Massive Scale of Untouched Crypto
Blockchain data reveals that “John Doe 33” is far from a casual observer in this legal drama. According to Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, the defendant appears to control a single wallet holding 5,000 Bitcoin that has sat completely untouched since April 2014. Worth over $300 million at current prices, this massive stash proves the defendant is a serious holder with real standing to fight back. By filing the motion, they successfully prevented what could have been a quiet default judgment in favor of the plaintiffs.
The sheer scale of the targeted wallets is historic. The addresses listed in the complaint collectively hold roughly 3.7 million Bitcoin and even include high-profile wallets widely believed to belong to anonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto and the infamous Mt. Gox hacker. Data from Bitbo highlights just how much of the crypto market is currently sitting still, showing that 3.5 million Bitcoin have been dormant for over a decade, with an additional 6.6 million remaining inactive for more than five years. Yet, even if a judge ultimately sides with the plaintiffs and awards them legal ownership, a final technological hurdle remains. Without the private cryptographic keys associated with these specific wallets, it is functionally impossible for the plaintiffs—or anyone else—to actually recover, access, or move the funds.
