- A New York lawsuit is seeking ownership of thousands of inactive Bitcoin wallets by arguing the assets qualify as abandoned property under state law.
- The dispute centres on 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses allegedly holding about 3.7 million BTC after a year-long effort to locate owners failed.
- Crypto industry figures and analysts say the case faces significant technical and legal barriers because Bitcoin ownership relies on private keys.
A New York court case is attempting to apply abandoned property laws to thousands of dormant Bitcoin wallets, including addresses reportedly connected to early miners and wallets attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto. The lawsuit was filed on 1 May by Noah Doe, ABC Company and XYZ Company.
The plaintiffs are seeking a declaratory judgment granting ownership of 39,069 Bitcoin addresses and the cryptocurrency held within them. The complaint argues the wallets should be treated as abandoned property under New York Personal Property Law Article 7-B after efforts to identify or contact owners failed.
The filing states Doe used a self-developed algorithm to identify wallets considered inactive before reporting the findings to the New York Police Department. He then conducted an outreach campaign that allegedly lasted more than a year.
According to court documents, 42,001 wallets were originally identified, though 2,932 were removed from the claim following responses during the notification process. The remaining wallets are estimated to contain approximately 3.7 million BTC worth around US$285 billion (AU$399 billion).
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Crypto Industry Questions Enforceability
The lawsuit has drawn criticism from figures within the crypto industry. Former Ripple Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz mocked the claim on X, while other commentators argued that Bitcoin’s decentralised structure makes court-ordered ownership changes practically unenforceable.
Analysts also raised procedural concerns surrounding the notification process. Timechain Index founder Sani and Castle Labs researcher Noveleader both argued notices may have been sent to outdated address formats rather than the wallets actually holding the Bitcoin balances.
Related: CFTC Officials Who Questioned Crypto Firms Were Suspended, NYT Reports
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