Pseudonymous Plaintiff Claims Title to 3.8 Million Dormant BTC Under New York Lost-Property Law
A pseudonymous claimant and two Wyoming LLCs have sued in New York Supreme Court seeking legal title to 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses holding about 3.8 million BTC, worth roughly $293 billion at current prices. The suit rests on a valuation of under $10 per address, a figure that market data does not support.
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What the Lawsuit Seeks
A plaintiff identified as Noah Doe, together with two Wyoming LLCs, has asked a New York Supreme Court to declare them the legal owners of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses. The case, Index No. 153119/2026, was filed March 11, 2026 and amended May 1, 2026. Sources agree the addresses hold roughly 3.8 million BTC, about 18% of Bitcoin's 21 million supply. Galaxy Digital puts their value at about $293.5 billion at current prices.
The complaint is believed to be the first attempt in U.S. history to claim title to Bitcoin under a lost-and-found property statute. The plaintiffs say title vested in them on three dates: December 26, 2025, March 31, 2026, and April 14, 2026. The basis for those dates is a delivery of USB drives listing the addresses to the New York Police Department's 17th Precinct, followed by an on-chain notice campaign using OP_RETURN messages and a press release.
The Legal Theory and Its Valuation Problem
The plaintiffs rely on New York Personal Property Law Article 7-B, a statute written for tangible lost objects that a finder reports to police. Under the statute, a finder can take title after a holding period if no owner comes forward. The statute has never been applied to cryptocurrency, and the plaintiff never held the private keys to any of these addresses.
The pivotal figure is valuation. The complaint cites an unnamed expert who appraised each address at less than $10 "as is," because recovering the contents is uncertain. That figure would place all 39,069 addresses in Section 257(2), the statute's fastest track, which vests title one year after the find date. Galaxy Digital's on-chain data shows 99.9% of the addresses hold BTC worth well above $10. The median address holds 50 BTC, about $3.86 million, and the average holds 97.25 BTC, about $7.5 million. CryptoSlate reports that if the court values the property at market prices, the claim falls onto a longer statutory track with a multi-year holding period, which would make the expedited timeline much harder to sustain.
Who Is in the Defendant Set
The addresses are not a random sample of dormant coins. Galaxy Digital reports that about 21,923 carry the "Patoshi" nonce pattern, an onchain fingerprint widely attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto. Those addresses alone hold about 1.096 million BTC, roughly $84.7 billion. The list also includes one address holding 79,957 BTC stolen in the 2011 Mt. Gox hack. Those coins remain subject to ongoing recovery proceedings and are not abandoned under any conventional definition. A further address is a Counterparty burn address, which is provably unspendable.
CryptoSlate reports that nearly all defendant addresses received small transactions in 2025, when a Salomon Brothers campaign used OP_RETURN notices to claim the coins under a "Doctrine of Abandonment" unless owners responded within 90 days. Hundreds of addresses moved coins in response and were excluded from the suit. The addresses that stayed silent became the defendant set. Galaxy Digital's analysis does not address the Salomon campaign directly in the material reviewed here.
Open Questions
The case turns on two contested points the sources do not resolve: whether a public blockchain address can meet the statute's definition of lost property, and whether an under-$10 appraisal can survive comparison with on-chain balances. The keyholder's ability to move coins at any time also distinguishes an address from a lost wallet that a finder physically recovers. No ruling on the motion has been reported as of the source material's date.
Why It Matters
For Traders
A ruling that values these addresses at market prices would remove the expedited path, while a ruling for the plaintiffs could raise short-term supply-overhang questions if coins move to exchanges.
For Investors
The case tests whether dormant Bitcoin can be treated as abandoned property, a precedent that could reshape long-term supply assumptions for the network's oldest holdings.
For Builders
Custody and wallet designers should note that a court treating unspent addresses as ownable lost property would create legal exposure for any protocol that cannot prove keyholder inactivity.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Read the full disclaimer.
