A pseudonymous individual called Noah Doe, backed by two Wyoming LLCs, has filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court seeking legal title to 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses holding roughly 3.8 million BTC — worth about $293 billion at current prices. The suit, first filed March 11 and amended May 1, is the first attempt in U.S. history to claim cryptocurrency under a lost-and-found property statute. Specifically, it invokes New York Personal Property Law Article 7-B, a statute written for tangible objects like lost wallets and jewelry.
The legal angle
Article 7-B typically requires a finder to hold lost property for three years before claiming title. But the complaint argues for a faster one-year track under Section 257(2), relying on an unnamed expert who valued each address at less than $10 “as is” at the time of discovery. That valuation is key — it would let Doe skip the three-year waiting period. The catch: Doe never held the private keys to any of the addresses. He can't move a single coin. The Bitcoin remains fully accessible to whoever holds the original keys.
Whose coins are they?
The defendant addresses aren't random. Blockchain research firm Galaxy Digital identified about 21,923 of them carrying the Patoshi nonce pattern — a signature linked to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. Those alone hold roughly 1.096 million BTC, worth around $84.7 billion. Another address on the list holds 79,957 BTC stolen in the 2011 Mt. Gox hack, which is still subject to recovery proceedings. There's also one Counterparty “burn” address that's provably unspendable — meaning no one can ever access those coins. The median defendant address holds 50 BTC, and the average holds 97.25 BTC.
The dusting that started it
These addresses first drew attention in an October 2025 Galaxy Research report on a blockchain dusting campaign. Between June and July 2025, someone sent OP_RETURN messages to the addresses, claiming constructive possession of the coins. The messages appeared to lay groundwork for a legal abandonment claim — and now, that claim has arrived in court. The plaintiff's theory is that the original owners have abandoned the coins, making them fair game under the lost-property law.
The case is pending before New York Supreme Court under Index No. 153119/2026. No hearing date has been set. The original keyholders, if they still exist, have not stepped forward.
