- 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets holding approximately 3.79 million BTC are at the center of the lawsuit.
- The lawsuit was filed in the New York Supreme Court on May 1, 2026.
- Plaintiffs argue the wallets qualify as abandoned property under New York lost-property laws.
- The wallets allegedly include addresses linked to Satoshi Nakamoto, early Bitcoin miners, lost coins, Casascius coins, and the Mt. Gox hacker wallet.
- The plaintiffs claim they followed statutory procedures including NYPD reporting and public blockchain notices.
- Even if the plaintiffs win ownership rights, they would still lack access to the Bitcoin without the corresponding private keys.
A lawsuit filed in the New York Supreme Court on May 1, 2026, is testing whether thousands of inactive Bitcoin wallets can legally be claimed as abandoned property under traditional New York lost-property laws.
The case, filed under Index No. 153119/2026 by law firm Lewis & Lin LLC, seeks ownership rights over 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets collectively holding approximately 3.79 million BTC, currently valued at around $285 billion.
The plaintiffs – identified as “Noah Doe,” ABC Company LLC, and XYZ Company LLC, argue that the wallets qualify as abandoned property after years of inactivity. They claim to have followed statutory procedures under New York Personal Property Law, including reporting the wallets to the NYPD and issuing public notices.
Key Limitation
Even if the plaintiffs win in court, they would gain only legal title to the Bitcoin. They would still lack practical access to the funds without the corresponding private keys.
How the Wallets Were Identified
According to the 901-page complaint, Noah Doe used a proprietary blockchain analysis algorithm between December 2024 and April 2025 to locate dormant self-custodied wallets.
The process identified:
- 1,625 wallets in December 2024
- 546 wallets in March 2025
- 39,911 wallets in April 2025
After removing duplicates and wallets that later showed activity, the final claim covers 39,069 addresses. The plaintiffs state they collected only publicly visible blockchain addresses and public keys, with no access to private keys.
The wallets reportedly include addresses linked to early Bitcoin miners, lost coins, Casascius coins, unidentified entities, wallets associated with Satoshi Nakamoto, and the wallet tied to the Mt. Gox hacker.
🚨🚨🚨A New York suit by “Noah Doe” and two Wyoming LLCs seeks a court order confirming their ownership of 39,069 long‑dormant Bitcoin wallets, arguing the wallets are legally “abandoned” property they found, reported to NYPD, noticed on‑chain and in the press, and then claimed… pic.twitter.com/34gH1Jqxxx
— Sani | TimechainIndex.com (@SaniExp) May 24, 2026
Sani, founder of Timechain Index, noted that many notices were sent to P2PKH versions of early Bitcoin addresses that held little or no BTC, while the actual balances remained in older P2PK wallets.
Notification Efforts
The plaintiffs say they conducted a broad notification campaign to alert potential owners, which included:
- OP_RETURN transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain containing legal notices
- A dedicated claims website
- A 90-day response period for owners
- A global press release distributed to more than 820 media outlets across 37 countries
Out of the 42,001 wallets initially identified, 2,932 were later excluded for various reasons, including 424 wallets that showed renewed on-chain activity indicating active ownership. The remaining 39,069 wallets showed no response or activity and were ultimately named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Legal Strategy
The case attempts to apply traditional lost-property statutes (New York Personal Property Law Sections 252 and 257) to self-custodied cryptocurrency wallets.
This differs from New York’s specific abandoned virtual currency rules, which apply mainly to custodial platforms and exchanges. The plaintiffs argue the wallets were “found” in New York County using computer systems located there, establishing court jurisdiction.
They claim ownership rights vested on:
- December 26, 2025
- March 31, 2026
- April 14, 2026
Potential Impact and Challenges
Legal experts have expressed skepticism about the case’s prospects, citing major jurisdictional issues, the decentralized nature of Bitcoin, and potential conflicts with inheritance laws or foreign ownership rules. The outcome could set a significant precedent for how courts treat dormant self-custodied crypto assets in the future.
The complaint acknowledges that Bitcoin’s design means control ultimately depends on possession of private keys, not court rulings. A favorable decision would therefore grant legal title without necessarily unlocking the actual Bitcoin.
This case remains ongoing in the New York Supreme Court.
