A New York man identified in court documents as Noah Doe filed a lawsuit on May 1, 2026, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, seeking legal ownership of 39,069 abandoned Bitcoin wallets. Alongside Doe, two Wyoming-based limited liability companies, ABC Company and XYZ Company, are named as plaintiffs in the action filed under index number 153119/2026. The 39,069 dormant addresses involved in the suit collectively hold approximately 3.7 million BTC, a haul valued at roughly $285 billion at current market prices.
The plaintiffs are citing New York State’s lost property law, arguing that these holdings constitute legally abandoned property under Article 7-B of the Personal Property Law. Noah Doe reported the discovery of these assets to the New York Police Department (NYPD) in compliance with standard lost and found procedures. He asserts that after a year of documented outreach failed to locate the original owners, the title to these wallets should vest in him and his affiliated companies by operation of law.
Algorithm identifies nearly 40,000 dormant Bitcoin wallets
The case stems from research Noah Doe conducted in October 2024, when he identified a security vulnerability that historically led owners to lose the ability to withdraw contents from certain digital wallets. In response, he developed a proprietary “Algorithm” to scan the blockchain for addresses that met specific criteria for abandonment. These included being self-custodied, dormant for at least five years, and remaining inactive even as Bitcoin technical patterns showed significant price appreciation.
Between December 26, 2024, and April 14, 2025, Noah Doe ran his Algorithm to identify the wallets in three distinct batches. On his personal computer in New York City, he flagged 1,544 wallets in December, 546 in March, and a final massive group of 39,911 in April. After each discovery, Doe brought USB drives containing the data to the NYPD’s 17th Precinct, where officers issued property invoices and took custody of the drives before eventually returning them months later.
Following the discovery, the plaintiff began an expensive, year-long effort to locate any potential owners. In late June 2025, a blockchain expert sent an OP_RETURN message to every found wallet, directing anyone with access to an abandonment notice webpage. A global press release followed in August 2025, reaching an estimated 225 million people. While some owners took on-chain action to prove their property was not abandoned, 39,069 wallets remained silent, leading to the current litigation.
Lawsuit includes Satoshi Nakamoto and Mt. Gox holdings
The legal filing is particularly striking because it includes some of the most famous silent addresses in the industry. The lawsuit specifically covers addresses starting with “12c6D” that are associated with Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. These coins have remained untouched since the earliest days of the network. Furthermore, the complaint includes addresses starting with “1Feex” that are linked to the Mt. Gox hack, alongside early mining rewards and Casascius Coin holdings.
Because the addresses have been unclaimed for six years, the plaintiffs argue they meet the threshold for abandonment. This challenge to the ownership of “zombie” coins comes as institutional access to Bitcoin continues to grow, raising the stakes for legal clarity. If a judge rules in favor of the plaintiffs, it would mark an unprecedented instance of a court attempting to reassign ownership of self-custodied on-chain assets that have been dormant for over half a decade.
Technical hurdles and the question of legal enforceability
Despite the legal filing, experts question how a victory for Noah Doe could be enforced on a decentralized network. Noveleader, the Chief Research Analyst at Castle Labs, notes that a court judgment would be “purely symbolic” because the Bitcoin protocol has no built-in mechanism to move funds without private keys. The court can order a transfer, but the software itself does not recognize judicial authority over cryptographic signatures.
Analysts at Castle Labs also suggested that the only way to enforce such a ruling would be if the coins were moved to a regulated custodial platform or exchange, where a court could compel the intermediary to act. Ripple CTO David Schwartz commented on the case, suggesting that the Bitcoin SV network might be more open to honoring such legal pressures. However, on the main Bitcoin network, the technical barrier remains absolute unless the private keys are produced.
Potential flaws in the abandonment notice procedure
The legal basis for the claim may also face scrutiny regarding the methods used to notify potential owners. Noveleader argued the outreach process was “structurally flawed” because the legal notices were sent to P2PKH-format addresses. In contrast, much of the Bitcoin in these older, dormant wallets resides in P2PK scripts. This technical discrepancy suggests that many notices may never have reached the intended recipients, potentially invalidating the abandonment claim.
While Bitcoin holds steady in the face of this legal novelty, the case will be watched closely as a test of New York’s property laws in a digital age. For now, the Supreme Court of the State of New York must decide if 3.7 million BTC can be legally “found” by an algorithm, or if the coins remain tethered solely to the holders of the original private keys.