The New York Supreme Court has temporarily halted legal proceedings in a lawsuit targeting nearly 40,000 dormant Bitcoin wallets. Judge Kathy J. King signed the order on June 4, which was officially entered into the record on June 5, preventing a default judgment against the wallets for now.
39,069 wallets at the heart of the lawsuit
In the case file, plaintiffs ABC Company, XYZ Company, and Noah Doe are claiming rights over 39,069 Bitcoin wallets based on New York’s lost property statutes. The claimants argue these addresses, inactive for many years, may be considered lost property under state law and that ownership should be transferred to those who discovered them if the owners remain unidentified for a specified period.
According to analysts at Galaxy Research, the 39,069 targeted wallets collectively hold approximately 3.8 million BTC. At current prices, this is estimated to be worth around $234 billion. However, the suit lists each wallet’s value as less than $10, citing the significant difficulty of accessing funds without the private keys.
Galaxy Research data highlights that these 39,069 wallets contain around 3.8 million BTC, bringing their market value close to $234 billion.
Among the listed wallets is the 1Feex address, long associated with the 2011 Mt. Gox hack. Some other addresses reportedly match the Patoshi pattern, believed by Galaxy Research to originate from Bitcoin’s early Satoshi era.
Amicus brief could steer the legal battle
Mergers and acquisitions attorney Ian R. Cohen filed a petition on May 29 to submit an amicus curiae brief in the case. In his 26-page document, Cohen argued that New York’s lost property law can only be applied to physical, tangible objects over which actual possession can be established. He stated that blockchain addresses cannot be placed in a deposit box and, as such, the legal framework should not apply to Bitcoin wallets.
Mini glossary: Amicus curiae refers to an individual or entity who, though not a party to the case, provides legal analysis to the court. In U.S. law, such expert input often helps inform court decisions, especially in cases of technical or public interest.
Cohen also pointed to a specific statement in the plaintiffs’ own amended complaint, which notes in paragraph 27 that wallet owners lost access to the funds due to security concerns. Cohen argues this indicates not abandonment, but rather involuntary inactivity caused by security considerations.
A wallet that has remained inactive for a decade, with its private key securely stored on a steel plate in a bank vault, cannot be considered abandoned; it should be treated as safely preserved property.
Cohen further reminded the court that in 2022, New York lawmakers amended the unclaimed property statutes to include virtual currencies and that dormant crypto assets should be directed to the State Comptroller rather than to private individuals. The court is scheduled to decide whether to accept this amicus brief during the oral hearing set for July 14.
Notable wallet activity
According to the case documents, Noah Doe marked these wallets using his own algorithm and delivered USB drives to the NYPD’s 17th Precinct between December 2024 and April 2025. Subsequently, a blockchain expert sent OP_RETURN messages to each address, directing them to a page declaring abandonment. Wallets that did not respond within 90 days were classified as abandoned.
Galaxy Research described this campaign as the Great Bitcoin Dusting in an October report. The study found that about 41,000 OP_RETURN messages were sent to wallets containing a combined total of approximately 2.3 million BTC. Analysts Zack Pokorny and Will Owens noted that the individual behind the operation demonstrated advanced technical knowledge of the Bitcoin network and took careful steps to obscure their tracks.
Following the lawsuit’s initiation, movement was observed in some of the defendant wallets. On June 6, Galaxy Research Head of Research Alex Thorn reported that 47.26 BTC—valued at roughly $3 million—moved from one such defendant wallet numbered 37,923. Another long-inactive wallet, untouched since March 2011, transferred 35.55 BTC, or about $2.2 million, on June 2. These developments have fueled speculation that some wallet holders may be aware of the ongoing litigation.
