Man Files Lawsuit Against Two Companies for Ownership of 39,069 Dormant Bitcoin Addresses Worth $290B

According to Cryptopolitan, a plaintiff known as Noah Doe filed a lawsuit in New York court on May 1 seeking ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets, including addresses linked to Satoshi Nakamoto, estimated to contain approximately 3.7 million BTC worth around $290 billion. The lawsuit was filed through two Wyoming shell companies, ABC Company and XYZ Company, claiming the bitcoins qualify as abandoned property under New York law.

Timechain Index founder Sani noted a critical flaw: most Satoshi-era bitcoins are stored in pay-to-public-key format, but the plaintiff sent legal notices to corresponding pay-to-public-key-hash addresses, most of which carry zero balance. Even if the plaintiff prevails, the Bitcoin network lacks private keys to transfer funds, making any ruling unenforceable.