A New York state court paused a lawsuit targeting 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets until a July 14 hearing. The move followed an order to show cause issued June 5 and comes after one allegedly abandoned wallet moved 35.55 BTC on June 2—directly contradicting the plaintiffs' core argument.
That June 2 Bitcoin Transfer
Address 1LwWtSs7tMCwcRczQd5kVMv3xpWw6w4Sxe sent its 35.55 BTC after years of inactivity. The plaintiffs had listed this exact wallet as abandoned under New York’s Article 7-B. Their legal bid rests entirely on dormancy claims. That transfer happened just three days before the court’s June 5 order.
How the Plaintiffs Made Their Case
Noah Doe, ABC Company and XYZ Company sued 39,069 John Does seeking ownership of dormant wallets. They valued each under $10 and used OP_RETURN messages for on-chain notice—a method previously tied to scams targeting inactive wallets. The lawsuit never proved private keys were lost. It just assumed abandonment.
A Legal Expert’s Pushback
Attorney Ian Cohen filed an amicus brief arguing New York’s Article 7-B only covers physical property taken into custody. It doesn’t apply to blockchain assets found through scans. His filing called the plaintiffs’ interpretation a stretch. The law wasn’t written for digital wallets sitting on a ledger.
The Unavoidable Contradiction
The lawsuit asks for court-ordered ownership without requiring private keys. That ignores Bitcoin’s basic mechanics. You can’t move coins without the keys. The plaintiffs want a declaration that sidesteps cryptocurrency’s core function. The court now has to reconcile these realities by July 14.
